I’m sitting on a commuter train reading your beautiful words. I realised tears are streaming down my cheeks and people are staring (I’m in London. Brits hate public displays of emotion). I’m glad - for all our sakes - that you were forced out of the NYT. I’m in. I will be a founder. You are one of the founding mothers of this time, this movement, this counter revolution. I hope we look back and celebrate with gratitude what you have done.
Bari's words made me weep too just now, this Sunday morning in the privacy of my home in Philadelphia. I came here to the comments to convey my appreciation but here you have already, for so many of us. Thank you.
Bari's words are simply some of the best I have ever heard. She is a genuine "founder" and a gift to America. As an entrepreneur who built a large company from next to nothing, Bari's insisting on building anew our institutions is essential to re-adopting the fundamental human values which she emphasizes. The future belongs to these founder/builders.
The woke are only out to destroy, they have no vision of building anything. They believe that destruction alone is all that is needed. They are too ignorant to know what follows destruction. Even comparing the woke ideology to the Bolsheviks, Nazis or Maoists, the simple-minded thinking behind their brutal (altho not always physically violent) tyranny makes those earlier versions of totalitarianism look positively brilliant. Of course, all were pathological, but the woke ideology is a reflection of our universities turning out robots indoctrinated with a hundred slogans and no depth of understanding of human history or human beings. They clearly are useful idiots for our overlords who have come out from behind the curtain in Davos and other gatherings every year. They are making it clear they are anti-human and only interested in their massive and growing power.
I hope and pray that Bari's approach builds a tremendous head of steam. But the Davos power mongers will not accept defeat easily. We will see in the mid-terms how fair they will allow American elections to be now. And I do hope UATZ will have strong security as it will become a beacon of wonderful values and therefor an enemy of the woke.
Meanwhile I will do my very best to be a founder as Bari articulates one.
What a breath of fresh air. Maybe we are winning the war on idiocy. Keep up the good work Bette!
Another anti-woke article. We as a people need more logical articles like this and hopefully, we will see more, an intellectual backlash. (Remember, history, facts and logic are lost on fanatics on both sides of the political spectrum.)
Also me - choked up in my home in Panama. Thankfully only my dog is wondering what the heck is going on with all the blubbering.
Founders are leaders and Bari embodies both to the fullest. God bless her. I pray her thoughts, her heart touch many, many more in the country I've left behind.
Boguete is beautiful and the climate is prefect. Thirty years ago my wife and I and a friend drove on a back road to the Costa Rican, walked across the unguarded border to a bodega and bought a beer. As we drove back, we went into a coffee processing plane and the guard on duty gave us a Cafe Duran gunny sack. I have the sack hanging on my kitchen wall.
I went to secondary school with one of the Duran boys.
Panama is a sport fisherman's paradise. Do you fish?
My eyes are full of tears, too. A magnificently thought out speech, I’m going to print it and place it in my Bible … to read and pray that those who heard this live, in person, will be able to lean on these points as the good work begins. It’s certainly begun in my heart and writings. Courage is contagious. Thank you Bari for your inspiration.
I loved reading this. I commented on the previous article from the UCLA professor that while I feel strongly that the revolution taking place in America is a huge threat, I do not speak about it publicly, but today I'm going to share this article on my FB page. I know this act is nothing, no brave stance, that FB is a wasteland. But I want people to know this is what I believe. I'm not going to share this thinking it will have any affect on the hive mind, or that posting anything on FB can change anyone's mind about anything. I'm posting it because I think it is right and good and I'm proud to believe in it. Thank you, Mrs. Weiss.
That you are wary of posting that you believe in freedom and the rule of law speaks volumes on how far down the road to serfdom we've already traveled.....
No, what "righties" do not believe in is the current two-tier rule of law. BLM and Antifa rioters go scott free, the Comeys, Brenners, McCabes, and Schiffs of todays Amerika can lie their heads off to congress without fear of reprisals, while "righties" languish in solitary confinement (and worse) for over a year for.....trespassing.
Obamas AG can ignore a congressional subpoena on grounds of Executive Privilege, yet Trumps lawyer gets put in leg irons (seriously) for same. Oh us "righties" believe very much in the rule of law, the difference being that we believe in equal justice under the law. Yeah, we're done with rules for thee but not for me.
We daily witness the White House, DOJ, and FBI refusing to enforce the Federal law that says judges will not be harassed or threatened. Why is this being encouraged, as encouraged it is by the White House, and Speaker Pelosi, among others?
I think they have a dark and nefarious purpose. They want to turn the Court. It is now 6-3 or 5-4 conservative (Roberts blows with the wind and is not truly a conservative). If they can create 2 "openings" before the end of this year, they can get 2 far Left appointments on the Court before they lose the majority in the Senate, as lose it they surely will after the 2022 elections. The country is sick of Democrat rule and wants a change.
Sadly, a Republican congress won't be "change"; nevermind the change you are looking for. Even a second Trump Presidency probably won't be that; though it will probably be a damned sight better. He will be constrained by that Congress, and resort to Executive Orders will compound the problem trending the Presidency 180 to the direction you might rightly want the office to go in; besides the man looking worryingly more than a little "captured" himself.
The struggle to restore Amerca is looking to be a work of a generation or more, as was its' foundation. You cannot rest on your laurels come November; but seek a second revolution and a re-founding of your republic.
Nothing will or can change as long as we're trapped in the 2-party system led by octogenarians who have used their political 'service' to service themselves and their families with government money.
The entire system of govt has been captured. Do you think there's any way out? Term limits would help but Congress is not about to curtail its own power.
I appreciate their efforts to present their 'side' and if they eschewed the 'rightwing' hate I'd take them more seriously. However I suspect the hate might be their central point. Leftists are Haters - it's the foundation of their brand.
Naomi, where has Biden shown other contempt for the rule of law?
Definition of the rule of law: is the principle that all people and institutions are subject to and accountable to law that is fairly applied and enforced; the principle of government by law.
"In this clip, Mark outlined the many ways Biden violates the U.S. Constitution and federal statutory law. From immigration to critical race theory to vaccine and mask mandates, President Biden ignores both federal and state laws "day in and day out." And now he's going after the Supreme Court, massively expanding the welfare state, and changing the healthcare system.
"Joe Biden is the most lawless president in modern American history. You can talk about Nixon, you can talk about whomever you want, Joe Biden day in and day out violates the Constitution and federal statutory law," Mark said.
"He's supposed to uphold the Constitution and the laws of the nation, even if his personal and administration's policies conflict with the statutes. Joe Biden is violating the Constitution," he added.
Watch the video clip below to hear Mark break down the many laws and statutes that the Biden administration has violated or failed to uphold:"
One thing I took from Bari's piece today is that Right and Left are becoming meaningless because people's views are changing. The extremes of either side are becoming more extreme and most of us are stranded in the middle, maybe still looking toward the left or right but mostly abandoned by both.
Except for a very precious few, politicians have become entrenched self-dealing toxic destroyers of our country. We need something new but it's neither wokeism nor armed militias.
Yes, there is a new consensus forming of those who previously thought they were liberals or libertarians, and those who have felt betrayed by many Republicans in government. However, as a conservative it grates on me when Bari and Nellie find a way to insert some disparaging, broad brush insult or characterization into every one of their pieces. It is apparent to me they don't know any conservatives and have a caricaturist cartoonist vision of what a conservative is.
Conservatives also don't come in one standard package. They have many different views on a variety of topics. The nice thing about the conservative side of the aisle is that we truly do have freedom of expression and speech. If you want to find tolerance and acceptance you will find it on the conservative side of the aisle.
Agreed. I've seen some posters here who resent their Liberal label being conflated with the wokey nonsense, but then they blithely label and insult conservatives based on the rantings of CNN lunatics.
Naomi, I think what you see as “broadbrush insults“ in her speech are simply pointing out the extremes. It must be done, in order to see the whole spectrum of what’s going on. The problem of listening, staying open, during an ideological war is feeling, but not allowing my emotions to dominate. It’s hard to discuss the whole panoply of “ultra-conservative versus illiberal values” unless examples are given. To my mind, Barry did a good job here. It’s a tough thing to read without wanting to punch back in some areas. But read it I must. And so I find my way back to balance. What she said about relationships, and how politics should not have any place there, hits home for me. I am in the middle of great losses in my relationships because of my conservative view. But I’ve managed to stay connected in the areas that nurture them, too. And that’s because I’m holding my emotions out of the fray.
I honestly just disagree. Over time I’ve seen Bari refer to conversations with Ben Schapiro, Jordan Peterson, folks at Commentary Magazine, etc. or be referenced by those people in return, all respectfully, even with differences of opinion. I think I saw a (positive) headline from National Review on her. She spends far more time on leftist problems because that’s her old political “home”
You are correct. She has mentioned these people. However, the fact remains that her and Nellie's articles always have a nasty, derogatory, or prejudiced insertion about "conservatives."
I can't recall who said it, but the gist was that the two political parties are not Democrats and Republicans. The real political parties are the activists, and the rest of the people who just want to be left alone to live their lives. The activists are far fewer, but far more vocal and much better funded.
I think Bari is proposing that we become extreme & that we start thinking of extreme in a new way. Those on the political fringe are becoming the standard. We either view ourselves as stranded in the middle or as outsiders hearing the call to be extreme in our words & actions & build something new on a foundation that has been steady for over 200 years. That's extreme.
At this present time, a return to those traditions IS extreme. Compromise is extreme. Logic is extreme. Moderate thinking is extreme compared to what is currently being demanded by those in power.
I am a conservative and wish there were more posters who think differently than I do. Matt Muellen, as long as he practices civil discussion. I welcome him.
If he refrains from using the word "righties, I won't call him part of the loony left.
Matt is a paid troll. He has expressed his hatred of Bari more than once. Logic suggests that he would not spend his own money to subscribe to this space. Either he is being paid to troll here or--which would suggest far more disturbing things about him--he finds spewing his hate here so satisfying that he is willing to pay for the privilege.
Right Matt, only the right breaks the law but leftists would never break the law, right?
How about the ever senile Joe not upholding our immigration laws and flooding our nation with unvaccinated illegal aliens, I'm sorry, undocumented Democrats.
Joe had harsh virus mandate for the US people but didn't give a fig about these masses of unvaccinated aliens They were not only unvaccinated against Covid but against chicken pox, measles, polio, whooping cough and other diseases.
How do I know this you may ask? I lived in Central America for over 40 years and know for a fact that the vast majority of these Latinos have never been vaccinated against any disease. Many have never seen a doctor.
He's bought into the mind virus as explained by Gad Saad, or as outlined so very well in Mattias Desmet's new book, "The Psychology of Totalitarianism."
I can't say enough good things about it. He explains what is going on now with these mindless, patently untrue narratives from COVID vaccines to denying patently obvious genetic sexual differences. He explains the psychology behind it and how to push back against it.
He also ends the book with deep look into the mechanistic ideology that came up out of the Enlightenment and why it is, at its core, wrong both scientifically and humanistically.
I bookmarked many paragraphs to go back and reference to and I know I'll be re-reading it in the future.
To post such a comment shows how little you gleaned from this article.
As a “rightie” who supported Trump, I don’t sneer at those who voted for Hillary or Biden. I am amused by people like you though, quick to judge and unable to see their own flawed thinking.
Did you see the crowds that came out for him in Alaska? There were at least 10,000 in the stadium and 40,000 outside. His endorsements are like gold. He is changing the composition of the Republican Party and this has encouraged many new people from many backgrounds to enter the fray.
I seem to be on everyone's email list for campaign contributions. It gives me an eye into who is running for Congress. I am amazed at the diversity in the Republican Party. Mayra Flores is a perfect example, as is Byron Doniel, or Mark Robinson. Wow...intelligent, dynamic, grounded in traditional American values and courageous. This would not have happened without Trump.
I wish he had a more polished manner but then again, if he did, he would sound just like any other politician. We are all tired of that too.
I think Victor Davis Hanson has the best analogy of Trump in that he is a tragic hero. His personality and faults made him the man of the hour and the man of his own demise. I'm not sure if VDH has used this example before (he has used very similar examples), but I think the best way to describe the Trump legacy is to compare him to John Wayne in the movie "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance".
I loved just about everything she said. I too was thinking about posting it on Facebook because of what you said: it’s what I believe, it’s right vs wrong and not right vs left, and I wanted friends who have kids going off to college this fall or next, to know what’s going on because I feel like most don’t have a clue. Actually, I want my friends who are parents of kids of all ages to know. I’ll reconsider sharing again! Thanks
Out of curiosity, please let us know if you do post on FB if you get any reaction. I’ve posted Bari’s stuff before and I get zero reaction and I wonder if it’s being deliberately oppressed. Then I’ll post something inane and I’ll get a big reaction. Or maybe it’s just me!
I’m not even on FB a lot so I know it’s not me personally but I wonder if certain articles or authors of articles are being shadow banned. Wouldn’t surprise me if Common Sense was among them.
The first time I posted something from Bari's blog, Facebook blocked it. Seems like they restored it when I pointed out that it contained nothing they'd supposedly blocked it for. But I almost never get responses to posting articles from here on fb, so I think that it's logical to assume that Common Sense is being shadow banned.
Same for me - i know it's either ME or Bari's articles being suppressed. I've posted several of them and I have a solid 10-15 people that always interact with my content, but i rarely even get a like when i share links from this substack....
I doubt it's you. The fbook crowd has become addicted to memes and soundbites. But it's worth the effort to try because there might be one who takes the time to read the entire piece. Let's hope :)
FB is a wasteland and you are going to continue to use it anyway? I don't have words for the logical fallacy that is. Hell, put it up on twitter, instagram, tik tok and pinterest too
I continue to use it limitedly but stopped expressing any social/political opinions around 2016. These days I barely ever go on since it’s always totally unhinged, mis- or half-informed rants and memes from friends and family I used to like
I agree about Facebook, and the closer we get to November the worse it’ll get. And that’s when I take a break! But if I can encourage a few friends to listen, who might not otherwise, I’ve done my job. This one is important to me.
Whether it makes you feel less fearful of sharing or not, know that many on your friend's list will not likely see the article. Facebook buries things not from MSM.
"It might be true that there are six billion people in the world and counting. Nevertheless, what you do makes a difference. It makes a difference, first of all, in material terms. Makes a difference to other people and it sets an example...I think the message here is that we should never simply write ourselves off and see ourselves as the victim of various forces. It's always our decision who we are."
I have felt the same degree of pessimism. It's a real David vs Goliath situation. But, in my heart of hearts, I'm really proud of what Ms. Weiss et al. are attempting here.
We only have one life and they are attempting to put something good into the world. During a deeply chaotic and destabilized time. There's something deeply admirable in that.
Besides, everything large started small. God bless em.. I hope they can keep this up. I'll support them any way I can:)
The Frankfurt School and Critical Theory arrived on your shores a century ago. Its' antescedants have probably been there since before the Revolution. Your Founders were exposed to the crank French political "philosophy" that nurtured it.
This is truly an awe inspiring read folks. It provides both ample evidence as to what has gone wrong of late as well as solutions befitting the problems. I’m truly thankful to have discovered Bari and this place she has built out of necessity. This ladies and gentlemen is what America is truly about.
Does it at least dawn on these people that that this current mindset is far more fascist than anything that is found on the right among any elected officials in the country? That the so called liberals of today who push this destructive nonsense rose to prominence because of the fundamental commitment to free speech is truly paradoxical. Wokeism is most definitely a religion unto itself and it’s dogmas bear closer resemblance to those engaged in rooting out heretics in the Spanish Inquisition than to ideas of true liberalism. It’s rather telling where we are at when you have so many people on the right and left who are coalescing together to fight like hell against Wokeism.
A famous quote comes to mind for how I see what’s happening to our beautiful country. “First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out— because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.” This came from the German pastor Niemoller who initially embraced National Socialism as the Nazis rose to power but became a public critic and was sent to a concentration camp for the last seven years of the Third Reich. Bari, Nellie and other brave souls have embraced the role of Niemoller despite the consequences they face due to their willingness to be branded modern day heretics. We should both be thankful for their bravery and to push our ourselves to likewise be willing to fight for the soul of our nation.
Indeed. The very first moment I became aware, through their actions, of ANTIFA, which of course stands for anti-fascism, it was clear that they were actually the embodiment of fascism. It was so obvious I just couldn't figure out how anybody could be fooled into thinking otherwise.
ANTIFA is to anti-fascism what Orwell's war is to peace.
Yeah it’s probably safe to say that 99.9% of Americans are anti fascist. It’s ridiculous that the MSM still treats Antifa with kid gloves. Antifa is basically the modern day SA from Nazi Germany…
MEbner, you seem to be confused about the SA: Sturmabteilung, Storm Troopers, or Brown Shirts in the 1920s were configured from violent anti-leftist and anti-democratic people; who were once soldiers. The only similarity between Antifa and the Brown Shirts is that they originated out of Germany; besides that, they are polar opposites. Brown Shirts were fighting for fascism. Antifa is a decentralized, leaderless movement that fights against fascism and authoritarian movements like white supremacists or right-wing extremists. Unlike the stormtroopers who attacked Germany’s leftists and the Jewish population. The idea behind Antifa is if the people of Germany had fought against the Sturmabteilung in the 20s and 30s: Hitler would never have become the Führer. By the way, MEbner, you haven’t answered pastor Martin Niemöller’s lament: “… They came for….” Who will the socially woke leftists come after? What group of people will they persecute? Please answer!
This..."That the so called liberals of today......" is why I refuse to call todays leftists "Liberals". The term has been bastardized to the point of losing all meaning.
Dennis Prager also makes this distinction between traditional liberals and leftists. What he can’t understand or condone is why liberals keep voting leftists into office.
I live in Chicago, where previously bustling parts of downtown and the North Side now have multiple “mass shootings” on weekends. Where “progressive” DA Kim Foxx was re-elected overwhelmingly despite her condoning this in the name of “criminal justice reform.”
Chicago, where six alderman are hardcore DSA members. Where my next congresswoman will be a DSA member (she won the democratic primary, and Republicans don’t have a snowball’s chance in hell of breaking 20% of the vote in the general).
Face it - the voters, the people I walk by every day on the street - aren’t liberals. They are leftists. They want this.
This was a really good read but there was one sentence where it is plain Bari simply does not understand conservatism:
"Nor is it conservatism if conservatism means defending the rights of Big Tech to shut down the public square to conservatives, or fawning over European autocrats and theocracies and calling for a similar model of government to dawn on our shores."
I think she was referring to the conservative stance of pro-big businesses which ended up working against us when big business found that money and favors were more abundant elsewhere. The theocratic comment perhaps refers to Tucker Carlson's admiration of Hungary's Orban. Not sure about that.
Perhaps that is what she meant but most fawning over European autocrats that I’ve seen are of Democrats over the likes of Emanuel Macron or Angela Merkel. But those are lefties so I guess it’s okay to swoon over them.
Especially considering the "theocracy" bit is ultimately Jewish in origin. It isn't as if it is alien. The Hebrew Bible is our bedrock; without it we simply wouldn't be. It is us; warts and all.
As an independent school teacher I cannot thank you enough, Bari, for giving voice to what what many of us see as everyday rough seas we try to navigate with students and colleagues. Those waters can intimidating, even frightening, but the compass you provide seems essential for safe passage. I am sharing this widely with friends, colleagues, faculty, administrators, parents, and yes ... even students -- as an important step in the right direction. Again, thank you!
Another master piece by the top journalist out there. What an incredible speech. Thank you Bari for your courage and ability to inspire. We won't remain quiet.
I have to concede that in these times it is difficult to no turn to nihilism and just say “fuck it all” and just hideaway, but you’re right Bari...our society is worth fighting for. If not for ourselves, for our children because our principles (whether or not we live up to them) is as good as it is going to get. Live not by lies.
Thank You M. Bari. Wonderful! I'm so awed I'm almost struck speechless. (I did say "almost.")
As to what Kendi said, he also said no culture was superior or inferior. They're all equal.
He was and is a buffoon, IMO. Mebbe it's *impolite* to say one is better and another's worse. But one can most *certainly* say that this here culture is more *lethal* than, say, this other culture. Not all cultures are equally lethal, right?
On that point: My daughter’s anthro professor taught that we in the US cannot judge other cultures and assume ours is superior. They were studying a tribe in remote East Asia that still practiced human sacrifice. SMH
If you can't say one culture is "better" than another, it means you cannot create a hierarchy of values. It means breaking the law by pick-pocketing a stranger is the same exact thing as murder.
In the left's war against hierarchy they have lost the ability to form a coherent vision of truth, justice and proportionality. To reach a world without hierarchy, you have to be accepting all levels of perversion. You have to denigrate "normalcy". You have to eradicate the idea of biological sex. You have to make virtuous all behaviors of "marginalized" groups no matter how they impact the greater society.
I can say a culture that does not allow people to stone homosexuals to death is better than one that does. I can say a culture that does not practice cannibalism is better than a culture that does. I can say a culture that allows any individual the opportunity to pursue any career path (I am not say the individual will succeed) is better than one that is based on strict castes. I can say a subculture that respects the rule of law is better than a subculture that does not.
TY for reply. Ah yes, M. Steven... You can *say* all those things, but will You be *believed?* Not too many places, but lucky this is one.
The funny thing about doing away with all the hierarchies? Those doing away with 'em put *themselves,* by definition, in the *top* hierarchy, right? I think doing away with hierarchies goes along with doing away with any form of logic. (Or mebbe it's just coincidence. ;-)
I find most people not only listen but respond positively once you put your voice on the table. Not all but most. Hierarchies are going to form as soon as there is more than one person involved. Do you want them based on fear, anger, power or competency?
Mebbe You're right about most people, Steven. I hope so.
Between the last two choice, I'd go with competency myself. But, according to some, that would give credence to "the illusion of merit." As You know, meritocracy is "whiteness" to all too many.
TY. And, yeah. That's why CRT and all-a them are doing a disservice to students of *all* colors, when they promote these lunacies. Drive their students to the lowest common denominator.
I can't get over how it's supposedly intelligent people who promote this. Supposedly intelligent and in actuality racist, to boot. And the people in charge who implement this? What's their excuse? I guess same thing.
I'm just guessing, but I imagine that most-a these people have PhDs.
Ironically, the Left is creating even harsher hierarchies through their "intersectionality." When the interests of two or more "oppressed" groups come into conflict, they privilege the group that has more oppression points. Hence the current trend of throwing women--particularly lesbians--under the bus in favor of trans activists.
Too true, Ma'am. I find it curious that black men get thrown under the bus in favor of about everybody but white men. This was illustrated in the comments to the article about Biden perverting Title IX to do away with due process.
How ironic that the people believing this then raise flags to homosexuality over nations that outlaw it, knowing exactly what they are saying and doing.
Activists like Kendi train people to be comfortable with cognitive dissonance and self-contradiction. It's a feature, not a bug.
Yup. But Kendi make Sharpton look like the simpleton he is, IMO. Kendi is now advising the *government,* he's so high and mighty. Now that's the way to be a *real* race hustler.
Yup. That's the only way someone can make any *sense* outta Kendi. And I think it's a feature that Critical Race Theory portrays logical thought as "whiteness." And how "lived experience" is elevated to be so *superior.* It just surprises me how many have fallen prey to that junk.
What is logically implied by Kendi’s radical cultural relativism is that we ultimately must choose the culture we prefer. For him, to do this requires first destroying the existing cultural structure and norms.
IMO, a problem we have in America is that Conservatives often consider their particular religious beliefs as the foundation on which to build their preferred culture. My very religious family members often mention a return to (their version of) God as the only possible salvation. This is a problem in our increasingly secular and ethnically diverse society.
Of course, America’s founders were very aware of this issue and chose the values of the Enlightenment as the bedrock of our culture--- individual value and autonomy, rule of law, equal treatment under the law.
TY for Your reply, M. First_Fit. As far as Conservative culture, I understand what You're "saying." I'm 50% Fundamentalist Atheist, so I can't go along with that aspect of Conservatism completely. But I'm 50% Religio-Spiritual, so I think I can understand it. Me? IOW, I don't consider it, for *myself,* a central aspect of what *I* think of as Conservatism. As to Kendi:
"What is logically implied by Kendi’s radical cultural relativism is that we ultimately must choose the culture we prefer."
Then I don't get what it means "choose the culture we prefer." To me, there are rings of overlapping cultures. I guess, then, one can choose to emphasize certain cultural attributes at one time and then different ones at another time if You wanna. That doesn't sound like what You mean.
"For him, to do this requires first destroying the existing cultural structure and norms."
This is about the stupidest thing I've ever heard before. Yeah, *he* would like to destroy everything and replace it with his own imagined "improved culture." And he's the *kind-a* person who would think that's a good idea. A lotta the problems we *have* in this world can be directly pointed to him and his attitude.
It's nothing more than a fascist way for him and his ilk to decide what is allowed and what is *not* allowed in this country. Only a twisted and perverted mind could even *contemplate* this kind-a thinking, IMO. YMMV.
I think Kendi and his ilk’s main goal with this talk of cultural relativism is to invert the power structure in current society. Marxists always talk about some future more ideal society, but in execution the first step is always to seize the political power and destroy existing hierarchical structures. It’s just ordinary tribalism dressed in academic philosophy.
You got that right, First_Fit! I think people who didn't read his first book even *know* that he's a Marxist. IIRC, he only let it slip in one sentence in his second. (Dunno if he's talked about being a Marxist or not.)
I can agree with not judging other cultures up to the point they come HERE, in the western world. You can have 7 wifes and eat dogs for lunch, but not in my home. As soon as you are in US/Europe and so on, you have to follow our rules and laws and i can "judge" you as much as I want.
By the way, Kendi's view creates an interesting dilemma on international disaster help, for example - why in the world we need to do anything for cultures "as good as ours" - let them fight and feed themselves.
As in a lot of other things, I am all for individuals helping and applying their OWN money for the causes, but not goverments unless there is a geopolitical need or threaties signed.
This is why I admire Bari and others - they do what they believe is right!
This is my opinion only, but as an old guy who lived through it,, you never really heard the opinions of 20-30 somethings back when I was a 20-30 something in the '70-80s. We didn't have a voice.
That was a good thing, because, while we may have been very smart, we were not wise (far more important than smart), and had not had many life experiences. So, while we may have embraced many adolescent positions, we weren't influential.
Today, social media has empowered that generation and given a very large voice to unwise thinking. It's allowed someone like AOC to be taken seriously. Our media is largely controlled by unwise people who are more interested in being Op/Ed instead of journalists.
Solution? I have no f'n clue, as I think many of us are too lazy to seek truth, versus what the tabloid media serves us.
Perhaps, a bill that would develop an algorithm that would define journalism (maybe disallowing any subjective terms in an article), versus 'opinion' might work.
They want so badly to tear down the system and take it over…. But they have nothing to replace it with!!
Thanks so much for sharing your insight, it’s a powerful reflection to be able to admit that the younger have always been “more extreme” but haven’t had the leverage before. I myself am nearly 30 but find myself baffled by most people my age.
Sure sure. The takeover in Seattle summer of 2020 on cap hill comes to mind… it quickly dissolved into chaos after they took everything over. They wanted to be autonomous but had no structures in place to actually do that. They just wanted to say they did it.
Your mention of social media is what I think as well. Ms. Weiss, in an otherwise strong piece, didn't really touch on the prevalence of internet platforms as this generation's defining medium. It has vastly accelerated waves of conformist and unyielding thinking so much so that it has put sanity on the back foot.
And you're right. Journalism has been one of the first victims. And following right behind it, dropping like dominoes, are universities and corporations.
You know my solution already: Give up the social media. All=a it. Not just the time, but that it'll just change Your entire perspective on things, AFAIK.
For me this is simple. I want to be able to think. I want to be able to debate ideas. I want to read for myself. I want to be a bridge from those in the past who spoke forbidden thoughts and wrote our Constitution to future generations flourishing under that Constitution. In the brief history of our country the forces of chaos have never stopped trying to shred the forbidden thoughts of our Founders. A civil war was fought because of the one bit of chaos injected into the Constitution. It was, thankfully, doomed to fall, yet the chaos lived on in pockets disrupting and killing, infuriated since the passage of the Civil Rights Act and it has regrouped with a vengeance, taking a new form on the left. The eyes of chaos are blood red with rage at the thought of humanity flourishing, no man subject to another man's whims, no man afraid to think for himself, the parent/child bond sacrosanct, self-determination a birthright of humanity. This is a hill to die on.
Great read so far. About 60% of the way through but one thing really needs to happen and that is the LGB need to stop pulling the TQIA+ Up the hill. The two groups have absolutely nothing in common.
The defining aspect of Q is outright perversion: public maturation. Pedophilia. The right to wear your gimp suit to work. The Q is outright deranged and they need the hard fought respect the LGB fought decades to achieve to ever hope to gain "acceptance". The issue is, even murders know a 41 year old man diddling a 12 year old girl is simply wrong.
The T & A (and the N) are simply offshoots of the Q which are kinda palatable and allow the Q to hide.
Of course the I is the yoke which forces the LGB to carry the load.
So this isa call to people like Bari. You have to STOP saying you support Queer ideology ands its siblings of Trans/Asexual/Non-Binary because the Inter-sectionalists have guilted you into it. You notice the media did not dub the Florida's Parental Rights bill the "Don't Queer my kid law?" or "Don't say Queer"... They called it the don't say Gay Bill. They again hid their true agenda behind the LGB.
"Cis" and "trans" gendered are terms of a cult ideology around "gender". It hides the fact that there are a tiny number of men who have either a mental disorder or a fetish which makes them wish to appear as women. The latest demand is that we agree they are women. Gender Ideology says that it has nothing at all to do with what kind of person you are attracted to (!). For instance our United States Assistant Health Secretary, named "First Female Four Star Admiral" Richard (goes by "Rachael") Levine is married to a woman. He has been insisting we "affirm" children in the "authentic" identities as the opposite sex and get them drugs and mutilating surgeries for their health. This must stop.
Some transexuals wish they were attractive to straight men (they are gay) but then there are the straight ones (who do not get "fixed") and wish to invade women's spaces because women and the thought of" being a woman" are both sexually exciting. They are the ones getting women pregnant in prisons.They are the ones who borrow their wives' lingerie (it used to be in secret but now we celebrate this sort of thing). I expect "Rachel" Levine is in that category. Probably Bruce Jenner and John "Jennifer" Pritzker (a big financial promoter of GI) are.
Jenner may recognize that people like him have an advantage over women in sports and good for him on that one. (Isn't this obvious? The bar is low if we cannot get over applauding that one.) However, though unfairness in sports gets the attention of the mainstream audience it is not the most important issue. I don't care if a guy wants to wear a dress to work and gets himself Extreme Cosmetic Surgery (although I have compassion and think there ought to be mental health gate keeping) but it does not make him a woman in any sense. Pretending that it does and endorsing an ideology around "gender" is hurting our adolescent and young adult women. Many "conservatives" are guilty of pandering to a mental disorder (and in some cases a fetish). This includes men with "diaper fetish". I recommend reading Dr. Deborah Soh.
Bruce Jenner considers himself a lesbian woman now. I think he is mentally ill and so would not want to see him serve in office. The fact that he identifies as a Republican could be what has sources like FOX News doing promotional pieces on transing little girls. It also has the hosts using "she" to describe men. I am not sure that an "our trannies v. their trannies" attitude will help stop the Ideology around "Gender" but that is my opinion :)
What is the good of conservatives who cannot conserve our nation's women and girls?
"Gender" dysphoria > Trans-"gender" are both real things; though neither anywhere need prevelant as made out. A significant number of both communities; possibly a majority; reject their being used by so-called "allies" to push specious political agendas. That is where Caitlyn stands as far as I'm aware. This isn't some zero-sum game and not an either/or issue.
Sure, an infinitesimal number of people have "gender dysphoria" which is a mental disorder. Should it always be treated with hormones and surgeries or sometimes be treated with talk therapy - at least as a start? Should we let the patient drive the treatment? I believe these people deserve compassion and the best treatment possible whatever that is in individual cases. Fetish also exists and we can be sympathetic to these people as well. Which does Jenner have? Maybe fetish since he considers himself a 'lesbian" and therefore has likely not had himself "fixed" below the belt. His girlfriends might have an issue otherwise...
I can still reject the term "transgender" which appears to take in alot and have an entire ideology that goes with it and sucks in a great number of teenage and young adult women. There are a great many desisters now with regret. There are a great many unethical doctors practicing now.
And our US Assistant Heath Secretary is promoting harm to children.
That is great if Bruce Jenner does not want to be used as an "ally" (a dirty word to me now) and if he recognizes that he would have an unfair advantage against women in sports. Good for him. I do not believe it is a zero-sum game. I also don't think I must agree that he is a "she" or that it would be good for him to serve in office. He's nuts. Lots of people are nuts but functional enough. Remember how he cried on TV when he wanted to be governor? How would a woman have been treated?
We need to stop promoting the ideology of gender in society and in schools. Many innocent young people (especially actual female people) are hurt by the cult contagion and will continue to be hurt than there are men with mental disorder and fetish added together.
Also, why reorganize all of society around the disordered thinking of a tiny number of men?
Did you miss the reference to her wife? :-) You are falling for their trick of confusing "gender" (The concept goes back to John Money, a completely foul person. look him up) with sex.
I reject the "cis" and "trans" terminology which is part of a nonsense (but harmful) ideology. Someone who is gay married is just gay. Someone like Richard Levine who LARPS as "Rachael" and is married to a woman is not gay married for instance.
I have no problem with the men LARPING really. My problem is if I am forced to agree with them that they *are* women. And, even humoring them does not mean gender ideology = science. It does not. Sure they can wear whatever they like to work and they get to have jobs. That does not mean Richard Levine should be US Assistant Health Secretary promoting the mutilation of children.
Scalia would have voted against the way I think for sure... but I don't know about "the court" now. The case I would like to see go to the SC is the CA "Sanctuary State" for trans identified minors (bill making it's way to law). It would mean people who are not the parents of the child could take them and get them drugs and surgeries against the parent's wishes. There are child trafficing implications. I would love to see that go to the SC and have our society really air these issues.
Madness is never knowing when to stop - hence the insane overreach may be the undoing of GI.
I wondered that too. I think maybe it’s what we used to call “bi.” It might be more clear if the “B” were deleted. Lettered nonsense will never reveal the nuance it seems to strive for.
Hi, In the UK there is an LGB Alliance which is for Lesbian, Gay and Bi-Sexual people. They have deleted the other letters which are nonsense. (OK, there are a few I = "intersex" people who have a birth defect but they are still either men or women and I don't think they want to be included.) Apparently, there are people who feel they can go with same sex or opposite sex attraction. I have no idea what is going on there but it's different from the "Cis/trans" Gender Ideology Cult which is about crazy "Identity" and gives cover to adult men - some of whom are mentally disordered and some of whom have a fetish.
But, yes, I'm against the crazy lettered LGBTQIA+++WTF alphabet that just keeps growing. "Gay" would cover it.
I think the movement wanted to take the word "sex" out of "transexual" not that anyone can ever switch their sex. I think there are just layers upon layers of terms which obfuscate matters: Mental Illness & fetish exist, young people are being harmed by an Ideology built around it.
This is not a subject I know much about. It would be interesting to learn more about the differences and similarities of the thinking behind these letters. Nobody (other than Steven nearby) seems to cover this.
I know cis is a made-up slur based on a mis-use of a chemistry term, but in trans-world I thought it meant straight. However, in this speech Bari defines herself as cis and gay. Am I misunderstanding the wokey jargon? Not that wokespeak is understandable to begin with lol!
A couple of thousand years before chemistry: see the Roman Republic's Cisalpine and Transalpine Gaul. "Our side of the mountains" vis "The Otherside of the mountains."
I know the parentheticals are whacky but they are the logical conclusion from the ideologies. Read some Gail Rubin if you want to understand how twisted these people are.
N = Non-Binary (you don't know if you have a penis or a vagina).
A = Asexual (you have neither a penis or a vagina)
T = Transexual (They hide behind people with gender-dysphoria but they think gender is unlinked from biology).
Q = Queer (This is an identity without a locus. These are the fringes and includes things like pedophilia, public masturbation, flashers, peeping toms, furries, beastiality, gimps among others) Remember this when your company insists you need to listen to "Queer voices" and simply ask why the company is supporting people that want to sexually molest children.
Oh...
I = Kimberle Crenshaw's Intersectionality and wraps up all "marginalized groups" into a giant guilt trap. This is the guilt trip that gets people like Bari to say she supports peeping toms, masturbation and child rape when she says she is part of the LGBTQIA+ community.
Sorry, but I beg to differ. Crenshaw and the Critical Theorists played a role in this garbage, because it all comes outta CRT theory. But, no. I is "Intersex." It has to do with people who have neither the "XX" or "XY" type of genetics. From what I know, they either *are* or *include* babies that have *both* a penis and a vagina. Long story.
They lead a very difficult life, and from my understanding, want nothing to do with these TQIANWTF+ idjits.
Haha. TYTY. That's on my list of books to read but, then, I got a *ton* of them. Dunno what originally attracted my interest in it. But look forward to mebbe getting to it.
I thought that in the alphabet soup, I stood for “intersex”? Which is a real, but rare, biological thing: any one of a number of disorders of sexual development, resulting in some cases of actual ambiguity about a given individual’s biological sex, including hermaphroditism (having both male and female sex organs). Intersex people are the only ones for whom the phrases “assigned male at birth” or “assigned female at birth” male any actual sense.
And “asexual” is not about what parts you have, just about not wanting to use them. Or so my GenZ kid has educated me.
I have generally heard the "I" be for Intersection but it is overloaded like the "Q" being for "Questioning".
As for the "A". Not wanting to use them is functionally not having them. Take the argument to the logical conclusion and "A" see themselves as a Ken or Barbie Doll with nothing but lumps so they have no sexuality.
They ignore the reality of what sexuality is and pretend they do not have a sexuality.
This is simply a lie.
If you go to the original source material for these things, it is far more perverted and insidious than your GenZ kid is letting on.
Yeah I have read about “nullification” surgeries to get that Ken Doll look. Delightful. But I think at least some people call that “agender” rather than “asexual.” There’s a lot of conflation of sexual orientation (a real thing) and gender identity (a made-up thing) going on. On both sides.
Agree that the Q is overloaded.
Intersectionality is a whole ‘nother can of worms, like that NARAL post about how you can’t be a feminist if you’re not also standing up for every other oppressed group.
Bari this is MASSIVELY important. Thank you and your colleagues for being a part of this. Hopefully it spreads. Online courses, and satellite schools.
The demand exists for a new kind of education. One unplugged from the machine. Most importantly one that still seeks truth and intellectual bravery, and doesn’t cave to cultural peer pressure with weak intellectual cowardice. Nullius in verba and all that.
Of course the best way to take over an old system is to create a new and better one. Do you think there is room in the tech circicuulm there for a new kind of participation in government? One that forces transparency back on the systems that govern over us and holds those who corrupt it actually accountable?
Thank You for Your post, M. Ketry. It was very interesting. Will hafta think on it more. I wonder what Your background is. In my experience, it's not so easy to solve what is, essentially, "a people problem" by using elaborate technology. ICBW, of course.
But I believe this here quote is a mistaken goal.
"Our current system has failed at this, and the solution isn’t finding better people to run it. It’s creating a better system so the person who is elected matters less."
If Your system doesn't promote the election of better people, I'm having trouble seeing it. That's just me. TYTY again for posting the link.
Thanks so much for reading and the feedback Jay. I used to think like that too - I thought that leadership was the key to a good system. But I think much differently now.
As Naval Ravikant says - “the key to a good system is that you should be able to turn it over to your enemies and let them run it and try to corrupt it, and if they can’t (without getting caught and punished fairly) then it is a good system.”
Good systems designers will hire a “red team” to purposely try and hack the system. And then make it better based on results. They repeat this often, and the system constantly improves to defend against corruptions
I prefer a decentralized system, because they have proven to be the fastest to adapt and the least corruptible.
Right now our system does not hold the political elite accountable. Therefore the system is corrupted. It is the single most important problem we face: corruption of our systems that govern our lives. Corrupted by regulatory capture and special interest influence.
Think of it like this: our system is like a computer. Most of our problems are just programs that run on the computer. We are sitting around fighting about what programs run better on a hacked computer system with a virus. But the truth is NONE of those programs are gonna run well. We need to fix the system first.
JT maybe this article will clarify what I mean. Again thanks for engaging. If we are are really going to change things we need a movement. #TransparencyMovement
Not one general or civilian has been punished for the afghan defeat. 20 years of bs, 1000,s of lives , an ending so catastrophic that the very belief in us power was shaken. Unaccountable elites indeed.
This is neither here nor there, but the gubmint should provide this info, right? Then all this group would have to do is compare their numbers with those provided.
Seems like it’s related to federalism. I have seen Interior Western US issues nationalized via a form of new-internal-colonialism.Not good governance IMHO.
Also check out how many eastern U’s have federal grants to study the West vs. western universities studying the East. Clearly there is a geographical privilege deficit.
Here is a better look at decentralized systems. If you really want to compare the two systems check out the book The Starfish and The Spider: The Unstoppable Power of Leaderless Organizations
What I am purposing here is actually a hybrid of the two systems. There is a leader but that leader is transparent - a glass head.
How are you going to get that better system unless you rid the current one of the folk borking it? You need to get better people running it or the borkers have a good chance of borking you and your intentions. They will at least make things more difficult and drawn out than they ought to be. You need better people in charge just so as not to have those huge and intentionally fatal obstacles in your road at the least. You need them to carefully dismantle that system together with you to lessen the problems of bulding a new one (The old one worked until deliberately sabotaged with malice aforethought IMO; most of it must be in the new build!) and to hurry it along.
We don’t need to dismantle the system. We need to create a new layer of technology that is open sourced and transparent and constantly evolving to prevent corruption and use it like a shock collar to monitor our politicians. If they refuse to use it they become immediately unelectable.
I'll think about reading the article. TY for the link. Before I read the article, I would like to point out to You a probable corruption in Your thinking.
You missed what I "said" about this being "a people problem." You identified the problem(s) correctly. Among them, the elite aren't held to account. Regulatory capture, special interest influence. I would like to "hear" *more* about what all some-a the other problems there are. This just scratches the surface, right?
Because all these can be changed by a simple change in procedures. No technology need to fix these.
Like I implied, You being a techie, wanna use tech to "fix" things. *Invariably* You'll make things *worse.* Sorry. Because You either misspoke or don't understand the problem. Our government is in *no way, shape, or form* ANYTHING like a computer system, right?
Perhaps You can explain better. Because I think You conflate the two. People and computers. Thinking in terms of our government working like computer programs is a false start. Mebbe I misunderstood.
I recall the quote from Naval Ravikant. And am familiar with red teams. I'm hesitant that Your red team will keep up with a determined foe, especially if Your security is Open Source. But that's neither here nor there.
The way Your system is most *likely* to get corrupted is in the *design,* right? You hope for good ideas to rise to the top, right? Again, I mebbe am putting words into Your mouth. I read the article You previously linked to, but didn't *study* it.
I could go on, because this subject interests me a lot. (But mebbe I went on too long as it is. :-)
JT it isn’t me who is misunderstanding here. A system is a system. You can corrupt a computer, a government, a school, a car engine, any system is corruptible. I am zoomed way out in my discussion and you are looking at this from a more acute angle.
Read it if you like to, or not. But we have a simple solution. And fear of technology like you seem to have is going to leave those infiltrating our systems with tools that we are purposely choosing not to use. We need to shine a light on the corruption and technology is the way. If you have a better way, do tell.
I'm sure You know this is a vast oversimplification: "A system is a system." I mean, it's true if You agree with the definition that "a system is a group of interrelated parts that have a common goal or function. Everything is a system, or a subsystem of another system."
At *that* level "a (sub)system is a (sub)system." IMV, virtually everything is a subsystem.
You may have missed my comment on the other article, which I read yesterday..
I agree wholeheartedly with Your views on transparency. As You could note above in the conversation of the OpenTheBooks group. Movements? There's almost as many movements, these days, as there are people. I have a deep and abiding distrust of movements, from years of seeing them crash and burn with unintended consequences.
It's not that I fear technology, M. Ketry. I think You sell short the most advanced form of "technology" there is on this planet. The Human Being system. Include that system in any solution and You move away from the verbiage "simple solution" pretty quickly, right?
The more you understand the problem the more simple the solution often is. Take the complex human system of grappling (BJJ). Infinite leverage points and techniques. But those who understand it best will usually have simple solutions to your problems.
When you zoom way out on any system there is two problems that are most frequent. Either the system is inadequate, or the system is corrupted. I don’t think the system is inadequate. If it was running as intended it would still be the best system on Earth. So that leaves us with corruption.
In your example the human system can also be corrupted - and it is actively happening - with the toxic foods we eat, chemicals in our environment, programming from media, and more.
The answer doesn’t change. Transparency so we can see the truth about these corruptions and decentralization so more than just a few food companies or few media outlets control the messaging.
This isn’t about a technique. It’s about an overlying principle of how to safely dismantle powerful monolithic systems.
A perfect example of this you and I are experiencing right now. The centralized corporate media has lost 80% of its control to the decentralized independent journalists of Substack and YouTube and beyond. Humans can create movements even if they’re not given fancy names. The movement towards decentralized media is based in trust. We no longer trust the big corporations to tell us what’s going on. Just like we no longer trust the government is responding as a representative democratic system should.
Radical Transparency create trust. But how do you create radical transparency? if the answer isn’t systemic then it too will be corrupted easily.
I just wanted to alert those readers, and you about an incident I recently experienced. I am an older woman in my early 60s. I stopped reading NYTimes, WAPO, CNN I just skim. I don’t believe them anymore and their agenda seems to be to stir up trouble and to be screaming constantly at me. Last week I got 3 messages from google via gmail asking if the emails from Substack were Spam and did I want to block them for “disinformation.” In each case I just shut the window down. A 60+ woman who knits, reads alternative views, wants to understand not only herself but the world around her, and is no threat to the PTB. I still subscribe to many Substack authors and intend to do so for a long time. I don’t always understand things, like Matt Tabbai’s articles on currency, the Fed, banking, or Russia but I persevere. We are being watched, monitored, and it really is at an unimagined level.
One way we can fight back is to stop supporting groups like Google. I used to own stock in the company (one of my biggest holdings) and I sold it all because I don't want to support their intrusion into our lives, and their leftist politics. It frankly is one of the best stock bets in the market, but I simply can't abide their practices. Same reason I stopped supporting my college, stopped subscribing to my local paper (the increasingly illiberal Boston Globe), etc. We have it in our power to financially disavow these institutions that are party to destroying free speech in this country.
Ironic that is all we ever hear from Google for the most part - spam and ads. Rolls eyes. :-)
Adding to your warning; always check your spam folder. Amongst the scams and sex ads there is always a large proportion of post that has been... "misdirected", shall we say?
stop using G mail you get what you pay for , tutanota startmail and a few others provide good service and you decide what is spam not floogle don't complain about being monitored , do something about it
This qualifies as a New Declaration of Independence, calling out the mobocracy for their “long train of abuses”. You are reminding us of our “right”, our “duty to throw off such Government”.
Indeed, “The history of the present [woke culture] is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.”
We all need to send this to every outlet of the mobocracy, stuffing their email boxes to overflowing, gumming up the works of the Unenlightenment, planting our flag for all to see, saying:
BigT, I pretty much agree with you - with one clarification:
I think that the US Government as designed in the US Constitution actually preserves what we (and I think you ?) want, when it’s fundamentals are followed as originally intended. That’s currently being perverted and the childish “woke” thinking is being let into our system.
So I see a new Declaration of Independence as being needed for independence from the current fad that is misusing an incredibly stalwart and wise structure that we actually already have - IF we’ll just use THAT. So when I object to the “government “ we’re enduring, I refer to a government with a lower case “g”, and reserve “Government” for reference to the brilliant structure we were given in 1787. I hate to see the two being confused in discussions of the changes I see as needed.
I tremble at the thought of our Constitution being fiddled with by the modern day clown car drivers. I’ve respectfully told my House of Representatives member (at a fund raiser), “please don’t take this as an insult, but your peers have neither the IQ or the integrity to fiddle with that.”
Jeff but you admit, the system is corrupted right? That is our root problem. No other problem matters more than the fact that the systems that govern our lives have been corrupted. We need to get control of the systems back first. Here is how:, we need a Transparency Movement
But be careful of leaning too much into the idea of "The System". It is people who have allowed themselves to be corrupted or who have chosen corruption; "The System" is just a thing in your head. It is how the systemic racism and oppression lie got a hand-hold in the first place. Reifying ideas also got us the "War on Terror" and the "War on Drugs". Be careful or you'll be off to the races yourself.
imho this steps into the area of whether to indict “the system” as being corrupted and needing revision. I think that there’s certainly corruption ( always has been to varying degrees). But I think less that the System is corrupted and in need of a pretty complex revision as your linked article describes than there is a pretty bad illness that needs to be corrected.
I think that there are several major components to this:
1) the primary mission of Journalism has been largely abandoned by people who feel they have a mission to achieve as opposed to honest, factual reporting. This, I think is likely a self correcting condition as evidenced by this web site, nearly all of Substack that I’m familiar with, and the exodus (or near exodus) of Journalists who won’t compromise their integrity.
2) The consolidation of information into a few centers who control what the populace sees. This smacks of the monopolies (oil, phone, etc) that had to be broken up to allow free trade. I guess the current information monopolies have some technicalities that keep them legal. It seems that we need a similar set of controls as was done for free trade of material goods and is now needed for information. I’m not inclined to see the need for deep re-write of the system as your article suggests. IF the Press did an honest job of shining a light on the rot, the public would know what’s wrong. The “System” is already designed to deliver the fixes: At the voting booth !
And finally, 3) the People better get damned worried and interested in getting good leaders into office or they’re going to find that is all they’re leaving their children and grandchildren a hellish mess that they might not have a way out of. They need that honest press, and ability to find and share information.
I've never done this before but I was so stirred by this speech that I just posted this to my LinkedIn account...
"I am a registered political Independent and a political "Centrist." I don't normally join in the fray that seems to be tearing our country apart. But today I read an OUTSTANDING speech by Bari Weiss, founder of the Common Sense Substack community of which I am proudly a part, which perfectly captures my sentiments, values and civic convictions that I now publicly affirm. I have no use for Republicans or Democrats, their parties, or for the Mainstream Media (be it FOX News, CNN, etc.). "Here I stand. I can do no other..."
I’m sitting on a commuter train reading your beautiful words. I realised tears are streaming down my cheeks and people are staring (I’m in London. Brits hate public displays of emotion). I’m glad - for all our sakes - that you were forced out of the NYT. I’m in. I will be a founder. You are one of the founding mothers of this time, this movement, this counter revolution. I hope we look back and celebrate with gratitude what you have done.
Bari's words made me weep too just now, this Sunday morning in the privacy of my home in Philadelphia. I came here to the comments to convey my appreciation but here you have already, for so many of us. Thank you.
Bari's words are simply some of the best I have ever heard. She is a genuine "founder" and a gift to America. As an entrepreneur who built a large company from next to nothing, Bari's insisting on building anew our institutions is essential to re-adopting the fundamental human values which she emphasizes. The future belongs to these founder/builders.
The woke are only out to destroy, they have no vision of building anything. They believe that destruction alone is all that is needed. They are too ignorant to know what follows destruction. Even comparing the woke ideology to the Bolsheviks, Nazis or Maoists, the simple-minded thinking behind their brutal (altho not always physically violent) tyranny makes those earlier versions of totalitarianism look positively brilliant. Of course, all were pathological, but the woke ideology is a reflection of our universities turning out robots indoctrinated with a hundred slogans and no depth of understanding of human history or human beings. They clearly are useful idiots for our overlords who have come out from behind the curtain in Davos and other gatherings every year. They are making it clear they are anti-human and only interested in their massive and growing power.
I hope and pray that Bari's approach builds a tremendous head of steam. But the Davos power mongers will not accept defeat easily. We will see in the mid-terms how fair they will allow American elections to be now. And I do hope UATZ will have strong security as it will become a beacon of wonderful values and therefor an enemy of the woke.
Meanwhile I will do my very best to be a founder as Bari articulates one.
At last even the left-wing loons like Bette Midler are coming around!
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/a-win-for-science-and-reality/ar-AAZrmx0?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=bb3d68afa03f4bee8c8e845378b93a94
What a breath of fresh air. Maybe we are winning the war on idiocy. Keep up the good work Bette!
Another anti-woke article. We as a people need more logical articles like this and hopefully, we will see more, an intellectual backlash. (Remember, history, facts and logic are lost on fanatics on both sides of the political spectrum.)
https://spectatorworld.com/topic/rise-anti-woke-weirdos/?usauk4481356=1
Also me - choked up in my home in Panama. Thankfully only my dog is wondering what the heck is going on with all the blubbering.
Founders are leaders and Bari embodies both to the fullest. God bless her. I pray her thoughts, her heart touch many, many more in the country I've left behind.
I was raised in the Panama Canal zone and later worked for the Panama Canal Company. All total of about 40 years.
Where is Panama do you live?
We've settled in Boquete, an absolutely beautiful small town set in the Chiriqui highlands about an hour from the Costa Rican border.
Boguete is beautiful and the climate is prefect. Thirty years ago my wife and I and a friend drove on a back road to the Costa Rican, walked across the unguarded border to a bodega and bought a beer. As we drove back, we went into a coffee processing plane and the guard on duty gave us a Cafe Duran gunny sack. I have the sack hanging on my kitchen wall.
I went to secondary school with one of the Duran boys.
Panama is a sport fisherman's paradise. Do you fish?
No. Don't fish much anymore. Use to. Had a Luhers but, as they say, it became just a hole in the water you throw money into.
Have you tried the native foods like pata cones, yucca, sancocho, arroz con pollo? Panamanian native food is wonderful.
My eyes are full of tears, too. A magnificently thought out speech, I’m going to print it and place it in my Bible … to read and pray that those who heard this live, in person, will be able to lean on these points as the good work begins. It’s certainly begun in my heart and writings. Courage is contagious. Thank you Bari for your inspiration.
Justine...Music.
I loved reading this. I commented on the previous article from the UCLA professor that while I feel strongly that the revolution taking place in America is a huge threat, I do not speak about it publicly, but today I'm going to share this article on my FB page. I know this act is nothing, no brave stance, that FB is a wasteland. But I want people to know this is what I believe. I'm not going to share this thinking it will have any affect on the hive mind, or that posting anything on FB can change anyone's mind about anything. I'm posting it because I think it is right and good and I'm proud to believe in it. Thank you, Mrs. Weiss.
That you are wary of posting that you believe in freedom and the rule of law speaks volumes on how far down the road to serfdom we've already traveled.....
I might have just needed a little encouragement! Posted just before reading your comment :), but I do agree with this.
Righties don't believe in the rule of law as evidenced by the fact that they still support Trump, who couldn't care less about the rule of law.
No, what "righties" do not believe in is the current two-tier rule of law. BLM and Antifa rioters go scott free, the Comeys, Brenners, McCabes, and Schiffs of todays Amerika can lie their heads off to congress without fear of reprisals, while "righties" languish in solitary confinement (and worse) for over a year for.....trespassing.
Obamas AG can ignore a congressional subpoena on grounds of Executive Privilege, yet Trumps lawyer gets put in leg irons (seriously) for same. Oh us "righties" believe very much in the rule of law, the difference being that we believe in equal justice under the law. Yeah, we're done with rules for thee but not for me.
Weird huh?
Well said. Thank you.
We daily witness the White House, DOJ, and FBI refusing to enforce the Federal law that says judges will not be harassed or threatened. Why is this being encouraged, as encouraged it is by the White House, and Speaker Pelosi, among others?
I think they have a dark and nefarious purpose. They want to turn the Court. It is now 6-3 or 5-4 conservative (Roberts blows with the wind and is not truly a conservative). If they can create 2 "openings" before the end of this year, they can get 2 far Left appointments on the Court before they lose the majority in the Senate, as lose it they surely will after the 2022 elections. The country is sick of Democrat rule and wants a change.
Sadly, a Republican congress won't be "change"; nevermind the change you are looking for. Even a second Trump Presidency probably won't be that; though it will probably be a damned sight better. He will be constrained by that Congress, and resort to Executive Orders will compound the problem trending the Presidency 180 to the direction you might rightly want the office to go in; besides the man looking worryingly more than a little "captured" himself.
The struggle to restore Amerca is looking to be a work of a generation or more, as was its' foundation. You cannot rest on your laurels come November; but seek a second revolution and a re-founding of your republic.
Nothing will or can change as long as we're trapped in the 2-party system led by octogenarians who have used their political 'service' to service themselves and their families with government money.
The entire system of govt has been captured. Do you think there's any way out? Term limits would help but Congress is not about to curtail its own power.
I think there will be a constitutional convention in the next 10-15 years
Excellent post Saba but don’t engage with this human/bot etc he/she is just objectionable
How about Biden? He and his administration have shown utter contempt for the rule of law.
You are wrong about Trump. Sadly wrong.
Naomi it’s Matt Mullen don’t waste your words although I really appreciated your post and enjoyed reading it
Thank you. Another one!
There really are few of them but they do stand out, don't they?
I appreciate their efforts to present their 'side' and if they eschewed the 'rightwing' hate I'd take them more seriously. However I suspect the hate might be their central point. Leftists are Haters - it's the foundation of their brand.
Naomi, where has Biden shown other contempt for the rule of law?
Definition of the rule of law: is the principle that all people and institutions are subject to and accountable to law that is fairly applied and enforced; the principle of government by law.
Naomi, your opinion doesn’t count!
1) extending the eviction moratorium. He had no legal right to do it the first time or to extend it.
https://thehill.com/opinion/judiciary/566836-canceling-the-constitution-biden-hailed-for-violating-rule-of-law/
https://www.dailysignal.com/2021/08/06/bidens-unprecedented-attack-on-the-constitution/
2) Mark Levin lists out the many laws and articles of the Constitution Biden has broken and violated. https://www.theblaze.com/shows/levintv/levin-biden-violates-constitution?rebelltitem=1#rebelltitem1
"In this clip, Mark outlined the many ways Biden violates the U.S. Constitution and federal statutory law. From immigration to critical race theory to vaccine and mask mandates, President Biden ignores both federal and state laws "day in and day out." And now he's going after the Supreme Court, massively expanding the welfare state, and changing the healthcare system.
"Joe Biden is the most lawless president in modern American history. You can talk about Nixon, you can talk about whomever you want, Joe Biden day in and day out violates the Constitution and federal statutory law," Mark said.
"He's supposed to uphold the Constitution and the laws of the nation, even if his personal and administration's policies conflict with the statutes. Joe Biden is violating the Constitution," he added.
Watch the video clip below to hear Mark break down the many laws and statutes that the Biden administration has violated or failed to uphold:"
3) immigration https://i2i.org/immigration-how-biden-is-violating-the-constitution/
4) on abortion https://indiatribune.com/biden-signs-executive-order-on-abortion-rights-challenging-state-laws/
5) on not following the law to protect Supreme Court justices
https://lc.org/newsroom/details/062222-where-is-the-rule-of-law-to-protect-supreme-court-justices
https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/international-news/rule-of-law/biden-violates-his-own-agenda-the-constitution/
There's much more but I have already given you more time than you deserve.
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/10/05/ending-trumps-assault-on-the-rule-of-law
https://theintercept.com/2019/10/10/trump-crimes-law/
https://www.citizensforethics.org/reports-investigations/crew-reports/president-trump-staggering-record-of-uncharged-criminal-misconduct/
This article lists all the 2020 election "irregularities."
https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/elections/bombshells-belie-big-lie-21-confirmed-illegalities-irregularities-2020?utm_source=daily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter
Now as to the Rule of law:
https://www.judicialwatch.org/biden-undermines-rule-of-law/
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/restoring-america/fairness-justice/bidens-border-policies-are-undermining-the-rule-of-law
https://www.nationalreview.com/the-morning-jolt/bidens-contempt-for-the-rules-based-order/
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/restoring-america/fairness-justice/bidens-legal-losses-seven-times-courts-have-struck-against-administration
There are more but this will answer.
Here is a list of articles that detail the many bad things Biden has done since becoming President.
https://www.aei.org/op-eds/the-10-worst-things-biden-did-in-2021/
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/bidens-policies-are-ruining-the-economy
https://redstate.com/heartlandinstitute/2020/10/28/joe-bidens-five-worst-policies-n271216
https://stillnessinthestorm.com/2021/02/191-ways-biden-is-destroying-america/
https://nypost.com/2022/03/09/why-biden-energy-policies-have-contributed-to-surging-oil-prices/
https://www.texaspolicy.com/president-bidens-terrible-horrible-no-good-very-bad-ideas/
There are quite a few more but this should be enough to answer.
One thing I took from Bari's piece today is that Right and Left are becoming meaningless because people's views are changing. The extremes of either side are becoming more extreme and most of us are stranded in the middle, maybe still looking toward the left or right but mostly abandoned by both.
Except for a very precious few, politicians have become entrenched self-dealing toxic destroyers of our country. We need something new but it's neither wokeism nor armed militias.
Yes, there is a new consensus forming of those who previously thought they were liberals or libertarians, and those who have felt betrayed by many Republicans in government. However, as a conservative it grates on me when Bari and Nellie find a way to insert some disparaging, broad brush insult or characterization into every one of their pieces. It is apparent to me they don't know any conservatives and have a caricaturist cartoonist vision of what a conservative is.
Conservatives also don't come in one standard package. They have many different views on a variety of topics. The nice thing about the conservative side of the aisle is that we truly do have freedom of expression and speech. If you want to find tolerance and acceptance you will find it on the conservative side of the aisle.
Agreed. I've seen some posters here who resent their Liberal label being conflated with the wokey nonsense, but then they blithely label and insult conservatives based on the rantings of CNN lunatics.
I have decided to always stand for the truth so when I see these blatant smears and errors I jump in and do my best to refute them.
The worst thing you can do is let a lie stand.
Naomi, I think what you see as “broadbrush insults“ in her speech are simply pointing out the extremes. It must be done, in order to see the whole spectrum of what’s going on. The problem of listening, staying open, during an ideological war is feeling, but not allowing my emotions to dominate. It’s hard to discuss the whole panoply of “ultra-conservative versus illiberal values” unless examples are given. To my mind, Barry did a good job here. It’s a tough thing to read without wanting to punch back in some areas. But read it I must. And so I find my way back to balance. What she said about relationships, and how politics should not have any place there, hits home for me. I am in the middle of great losses in my relationships because of my conservative view. But I’ve managed to stay connected in the areas that nurture them, too. And that’s because I’m holding my emotions out of the fray.
Thank you for giving me another perspective on this.
I honestly just disagree. Over time I’ve seen Bari refer to conversations with Ben Schapiro, Jordan Peterson, folks at Commentary Magazine, etc. or be referenced by those people in return, all respectfully, even with differences of opinion. I think I saw a (positive) headline from National Review on her. She spends far more time on leftist problems because that’s her old political “home”
You are correct. She has mentioned these people. However, the fact remains that her and Nellie's articles always have a nasty, derogatory, or prejudiced insertion about "conservatives."
Neither do they seem to know what a liberal is: in our shared political tradition the reverse of the only true coin. Both are needed and necessary.
I can't recall who said it, but the gist was that the two political parties are not Democrats and Republicans. The real political parties are the activists, and the rest of the people who just want to be left alone to live their lives. The activists are far fewer, but far more vocal and much better funded.
I think Bari is proposing that we become extreme & that we start thinking of extreme in a new way. Those on the political fringe are becoming the standard. We either view ourselves as stranded in the middle or as outsiders hearing the call to be extreme in our words & actions & build something new on a foundation that has been steady for over 200 years. That's extreme.
How can that be "extreme?" That is a return to traditional enhanced by recent experience.
At this present time, a return to those traditions IS extreme. Compromise is extreme. Logic is extreme. Moderate thinking is extreme compared to what is currently being demanded by those in power.
What a fool you are.
You must have missed Bari's plea to use "common sense."
Ah, “righties”
Sorry, you don’t belong here
I am a conservative and wish there were more posters who think differently than I do. Matt Muellen, as long as he practices civil discussion. I welcome him.
If he refrains from using the word "righties, I won't call him part of the loony left.
Matt is a paid troll. He has expressed his hatred of Bari more than once. Logic suggests that he would not spend his own money to subscribe to this space. Either he is being paid to troll here or--which would suggest far more disturbing things about him--he finds spewing his hate here so satisfying that he is willing to pay for the privilege.
Can be both. (The $5 notwithstanding.)
Right Matt, only the right breaks the law but leftists would never break the law, right?
How about the ever senile Joe not upholding our immigration laws and flooding our nation with unvaccinated illegal aliens, I'm sorry, undocumented Democrats.
Joe had harsh virus mandate for the US people but didn't give a fig about these masses of unvaccinated aliens They were not only unvaccinated against Covid but against chicken pox, measles, polio, whooping cough and other diseases.
How do I know this you may ask? I lived in Central America for over 40 years and know for a fact that the vast majority of these Latinos have never been vaccinated against any disease. Many have never seen a doctor.
You're have a very soft mind. Incredibly gullible.
He's bought into the mind virus as explained by Gad Saad, or as outlined so very well in Mattias Desmet's new book, "The Psychology of Totalitarianism."
Thanks for letting us know about Desmet’s new book.
I can't say enough good things about it. He explains what is going on now with these mindless, patently untrue narratives from COVID vaccines to denying patently obvious genetic sexual differences. He explains the psychology behind it and how to push back against it.
He also ends the book with deep look into the mechanistic ideology that came up out of the Enlightenment and why it is, at its core, wrong both scientifically and humanistically.
I bookmarked many paragraphs to go back and reference to and I know I'll be re-reading it in the future.
Matt...hook in nose, comes to mind, release thy-self. thanks.
To post such a comment shows how little you gleaned from this article.
As a “rightie” who supported Trump, I don’t sneer at those who voted for Hillary or Biden. I am amused by people like you though, quick to judge and unable to see their own flawed thinking.
Matt is a looney left fanatic. He can't logically discuss anything. All he can do is insult.
Figures! I’m just grateful for this little oasis in the desert of contemporary thought, “Matts” of the world be damned.
I disagree with most of that statement, but I would agree with the sentiment that Trump should go. I think his time has come and gone.
Did you see the crowds that came out for him in Alaska? There were at least 10,000 in the stadium and 40,000 outside. His endorsements are like gold. He is changing the composition of the Republican Party and this has encouraged many new people from many backgrounds to enter the fray.
I seem to be on everyone's email list for campaign contributions. It gives me an eye into who is running for Congress. I am amazed at the diversity in the Republican Party. Mayra Flores is a perfect example, as is Byron Doniel, or Mark Robinson. Wow...intelligent, dynamic, grounded in traditional American values and courageous. This would not have happened without Trump.
I wish he had a more polished manner but then again, if he did, he would sound just like any other politician. We are all tired of that too.
For sure.
I think Victor Davis Hanson has the best analogy of Trump in that he is a tragic hero. His personality and faults made him the man of the hour and the man of his own demise. I'm not sure if VDH has used this example before (he has used very similar examples), but I think the best way to describe the Trump legacy is to compare him to John Wayne in the movie "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance".
I agree.
Silly
As usual
I posted…and no response.
I loved just about everything she said. I too was thinking about posting it on Facebook because of what you said: it’s what I believe, it’s right vs wrong and not right vs left, and I wanted friends who have kids going off to college this fall or next, to know what’s going on because I feel like most don’t have a clue. Actually, I want my friends who are parents of kids of all ages to know. I’ll reconsider sharing again! Thanks
Out of curiosity, please let us know if you do post on FB if you get any reaction. I’ve posted Bari’s stuff before and I get zero reaction and I wonder if it’s being deliberately oppressed. Then I’ll post something inane and I’ll get a big reaction. Or maybe it’s just me!
Yes, you are being shadow-banned by Facebook. Guaranteed.
I’m not even on FB a lot so I know it’s not me personally but I wonder if certain articles or authors of articles are being shadow banned. Wouldn’t surprise me if Common Sense was among them.
Yes, shadow-banning is pervasive on Facebook and I'm sure Common Sense and Bari Weiss are targets, along with anyone who posts that content.
The first time I posted something from Bari's blog, Facebook blocked it. Seems like they restored it when I pointed out that it contained nothing they'd supposedly blocked it for. But I almost never get responses to posting articles from here on fb, so I think that it's logical to assume that Common Sense is being shadow banned.
Same for me - i know it's either ME or Bari's articles being suppressed. I've posted several of them and I have a solid 10-15 people that always interact with my content, but i rarely even get a like when i share links from this substack....
I doubt it's you. The fbook crowd has become addicted to memes and soundbites. But it's worth the effort to try because there might be one who takes the time to read the entire piece. Let's hope :)
It should be easy to check. Ask a couple of random folk you don't normally have a great deal to do with if they can see it.
FB is a wasteland and you are going to continue to use it anyway? I don't have words for the logical fallacy that is. Hell, put it up on twitter, instagram, tik tok and pinterest too
I continue to use it limitedly but stopped expressing any social/political opinions around 2016. These days I barely ever go on since it’s always totally unhinged, mis- or half-informed rants and memes from friends and family I used to like
Go off it completely you won’t miss it I never signed up for Fakebook ever I don’t suffer from that sort of crap
I agree about Facebook, and the closer we get to November the worse it’ll get. And that’s when I take a break! But if I can encourage a few friends to listen, who might not otherwise, I’ve done my job. This one is important to me.
I have given up posting political messages on fb. I use it solely to keep in contact with family and old friends now.
When Elon Musk was going to buy Twitter, I moved my political posts there. Not sure what to do now that he has backed out.
Whether it makes you feel less fearful of sharing or not, know that many on your friend's list will not likely see the article. Facebook buries things not from MSM.
Bari sez No Nihilism! Gotta keep trying :)
"It might be true that there are six billion people in the world and counting. Nevertheless, what you do makes a difference. It makes a difference, first of all, in material terms. Makes a difference to other people and it sets an example...I think the message here is that we should never simply write ourselves off and see ourselves as the victim of various forces. It's always our decision who we are."
"Waking Life"
The full quote is very relevant:
https://wakinglifemovie.net/transcript/chapter/3/
You inspired me to do the same! Thank you!
Pemuliss...one drop at a time...results
I have felt the same degree of pessimism. It's a real David vs Goliath situation. But, in my heart of hearts, I'm really proud of what Ms. Weiss et al. are attempting here.
We only have one life and they are attempting to put something good into the world. During a deeply chaotic and destabilized time. There's something deeply admirable in that.
Besides, everything large started small. God bless em.. I hope they can keep this up. I'll support them any way I can:)
I sure as hell hope so..
The Frankfurt School and Critical Theory arrived on your shores a century ago. Its' antescedants have probably been there since before the Revolution. Your Founders were exposed to the crank French political "philosophy" that nurtured it.
The American Revolution was influenced by Enlightenment philosophies of a more English nature (Hobbes, Locke, etc.) rather than French.
I think the end result of the American vs. French Revolution is historical evidence of that.
Thank you perhaps some quotes from the great Hebrew scholar Hillel are appropiate;
“Who does not grow, declines.”
“Do not say, 'When I have leisure, I will study,' because you may never have leisure.”
“In a place where there are no humans, one must strive to be human.”
“If I am not for others, what am I? And if not now, when?”
-- Hillel the Elder
One of my fave Bob Dylan lines, from It's Alright, Ma (I'm only bleeding) -
'he not busy being born is busy dying'
This is truly an awe inspiring read folks. It provides both ample evidence as to what has gone wrong of late as well as solutions befitting the problems. I’m truly thankful to have discovered Bari and this place she has built out of necessity. This ladies and gentlemen is what America is truly about.
Does it at least dawn on these people that that this current mindset is far more fascist than anything that is found on the right among any elected officials in the country? That the so called liberals of today who push this destructive nonsense rose to prominence because of the fundamental commitment to free speech is truly paradoxical. Wokeism is most definitely a religion unto itself and it’s dogmas bear closer resemblance to those engaged in rooting out heretics in the Spanish Inquisition than to ideas of true liberalism. It’s rather telling where we are at when you have so many people on the right and left who are coalescing together to fight like hell against Wokeism.
A famous quote comes to mind for how I see what’s happening to our beautiful country. “First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out— because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.” This came from the German pastor Niemoller who initially embraced National Socialism as the Nazis rose to power but became a public critic and was sent to a concentration camp for the last seven years of the Third Reich. Bari, Nellie and other brave souls have embraced the role of Niemoller despite the consequences they face due to their willingness to be branded modern day heretics. We should both be thankful for their bravery and to push our ourselves to likewise be willing to fight for the soul of our nation.
They are the Fascists indeed. And masters at projection.
Indeed. The very first moment I became aware, through their actions, of ANTIFA, which of course stands for anti-fascism, it was clear that they were actually the embodiment of fascism. It was so obvious I just couldn't figure out how anybody could be fooled into thinking otherwise.
ANTIFA is to anti-fascism what Orwell's war is to peace.
Yeah it’s probably safe to say that 99.9% of Americans are anti fascist. It’s ridiculous that the MSM still treats Antifa with kid gloves. Antifa is basically the modern day SA from Nazi Germany…
MEbner, you seem to be confused about the SA: Sturmabteilung, Storm Troopers, or Brown Shirts in the 1920s were configured from violent anti-leftist and anti-democratic people; who were once soldiers. The only similarity between Antifa and the Brown Shirts is that they originated out of Germany; besides that, they are polar opposites. Brown Shirts were fighting for fascism. Antifa is a decentralized, leaderless movement that fights against fascism and authoritarian movements like white supremacists or right-wing extremists. Unlike the stormtroopers who attacked Germany’s leftists and the Jewish population. The idea behind Antifa is if the people of Germany had fought against the Sturmabteilung in the 20s and 30s: Hitler would never have become the Führer. By the way, MEbner, you haven’t answered pastor Martin Niemöller’s lament: “… They came for….” Who will the socially woke leftists come after? What group of people will they persecute? Please answer!
🙄🙄🙄
Stop gaslighting
He's a troll and can't help himself. It's all he knows to do.
Antigone:
10 Signs of Gaslighting
I’m not: Lying about or denying something and refusing to admit the lie even when you show them proof
I’m not: Insisting that an event or behavior you witnessed never happened and that you’re remembering it wrong
I’m not: Spreading rumors and gossip about you, or telling you that other people are gossiping about you
I’m not: Changing the subject or refusing to listen when confronted about a lie or other gaslighting behavior
I’m not: Telling you that you’re overreacting when you call them out
I’m not: Blame shifting in relationships—saying that if you acted differently, they wouldn’t treat you like this, so it’s really your fault
I’m not: Trying to smooth things over with loving words that don’t match their actions
I’m not: Twisting a story to minimize their abusive behavior
I’m not: Minimizing their hurtful behaviors or words by saying something like, “It was just a joke” or “You’re way too sensitive”
I’m not: Separating you from friends and family who might recognize your gaslighting abuse symptoms.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CpCKkWMbmXU
And masters of language manipulation, just as Orwell predicted.
Amen Maureen!
Agree with every word, both here and from Bari.
This..."That the so called liberals of today......" is why I refuse to call todays leftists "Liberals". The term has been bastardized to the point of losing all meaning.
Dennis Prager also makes this distinction between traditional liberals and leftists. What he can’t understand or condone is why liberals keep voting leftists into office.
I live in Chicago, where previously bustling parts of downtown and the North Side now have multiple “mass shootings” on weekends. Where “progressive” DA Kim Foxx was re-elected overwhelmingly despite her condoning this in the name of “criminal justice reform.”
Chicago, where six alderman are hardcore DSA members. Where my next congresswoman will be a DSA member (she won the democratic primary, and Republicans don’t have a snowball’s chance in hell of breaking 20% of the vote in the general).
Face it - the voters, the people I walk by every day on the street - aren’t liberals. They are leftists. They want this.
That’s a scary thought.
I think cognitive dissonance has a lot to do with it as well.
Because they have been sending out a message that conservatives are anti-poor, anti-women and racist.
If these traditional 'Liberals' keep voting for Biden then they're indistinguishable from leftists.
That is the ultimate question “why do we keep doing it”
I also make a very strong distinction between liberals and progressives (aka: leftists).
This was a really good read but there was one sentence where it is plain Bari simply does not understand conservatism:
"Nor is it conservatism if conservatism means defending the rights of Big Tech to shut down the public square to conservatives, or fawning over European autocrats and theocracies and calling for a similar model of government to dawn on our shores."
This is a very odd statement.
My sentiments exactly - this is why conservatism scares liberals- we have been mischaracterized by the media for decades.
Yes the sentence contradicts itself. Defending the people who are shutting you down? Huh?
And big tech is screechingly leftist to the point of absurdity. But then leftism is the nuevo Theatre of the Absurd.
And show me the conservative that wants to bring EU politics to the States. There isn't a single one.
She was referring to the Hungary. Because Orban is a very bad strongman, in the estimation of the MSM and everyone who reads them.
This gets me about Bari as well. I really don’t think she understands the conservative side.
David French is the most right I’ve seen her go, and that dude’s a Never Trumper
I think she was referring to the conservative stance of pro-big businesses which ended up working against us when big business found that money and favors were more abundant elsewhere. The theocratic comment perhaps refers to Tucker Carlson's admiration of Hungary's Orban. Not sure about that.
Perhaps that is what she meant but most fawning over European autocrats that I’ve seen are of Democrats over the likes of Emanuel Macron or Angela Merkel. But those are lefties so I guess it’s okay to swoon over them.
Right. I don’t get that. That’s leftists being described there.
Especially considering the "theocracy" bit is ultimately Jewish in origin. It isn't as if it is alien. The Hebrew Bible is our bedrock; without it we simply wouldn't be. It is us; warts and all.
It is a conundrum. We need a new word to describe the sane people from the left and the right. 
Libtriots?
I'd be happy to just go back to being citizens instead of 'consumers.'
That is the perfect quotation to describe the moment. Thank you.
Tell me, MEbner, will the Wokeism:
Come for the immigrant?
Come for the LGBTQ, especially the trans?
Come for the disabled?
Come for the advocates of CRT?
Come for the work-shy and asocial with an inherited inclination to engage in petty crime?
Come for the women on welfare?
Come for the working poor on food stamps?
Come for the mentally ill?
Tell me, MEbner, who will they come for?
you if there is a god
Jerry, you would make an excellent brown shirt; hate was a feature, not a bug of fascism!
thank you jackalope you are so clueless
As an independent school teacher I cannot thank you enough, Bari, for giving voice to what what many of us see as everyday rough seas we try to navigate with students and colleagues. Those waters can intimidating, even frightening, but the compass you provide seems essential for safe passage. I am sharing this widely with friends, colleagues, faculty, administrators, parents, and yes ... even students -- as an important step in the right direction. Again, thank you!
Another master piece by the top journalist out there. What an incredible speech. Thank you Bari for your courage and ability to inspire. We won't remain quiet.
“The coalition of the sane” indeed.
I have to concede that in these times it is difficult to no turn to nihilism and just say “fuck it all” and just hideaway, but you’re right Bari...our society is worth fighting for. If not for ourselves, for our children because our principles (whether or not we live up to them) is as good as it is going to get. Live not by lies.
Thank You M. Bari. Wonderful! I'm so awed I'm almost struck speechless. (I did say "almost.")
As to what Kendi said, he also said no culture was superior or inferior. They're all equal.
He was and is a buffoon, IMO. Mebbe it's *impolite* to say one is better and another's worse. But one can most *certainly* say that this here culture is more *lethal* than, say, this other culture. Not all cultures are equally lethal, right?
On that point: My daughter’s anthro professor taught that we in the US cannot judge other cultures and assume ours is superior. They were studying a tribe in remote East Asia that still practiced human sacrifice. SMH
If you can't say one culture is "better" than another, it means you cannot create a hierarchy of values. It means breaking the law by pick-pocketing a stranger is the same exact thing as murder.
In the left's war against hierarchy they have lost the ability to form a coherent vision of truth, justice and proportionality. To reach a world without hierarchy, you have to be accepting all levels of perversion. You have to denigrate "normalcy". You have to eradicate the idea of biological sex. You have to make virtuous all behaviors of "marginalized" groups no matter how they impact the greater society.
I can say a culture that does not allow people to stone homosexuals to death is better than one that does. I can say a culture that does not practice cannibalism is better than a culture that does. I can say a culture that allows any individual the opportunity to pursue any career path (I am not say the individual will succeed) is better than one that is based on strict castes. I can say a subculture that respects the rule of law is better than a subculture that does not.
TY for reply. Ah yes, M. Steven... You can *say* all those things, but will You be *believed?* Not too many places, but lucky this is one.
The funny thing about doing away with all the hierarchies? Those doing away with 'em put *themselves,* by definition, in the *top* hierarchy, right? I think doing away with hierarchies goes along with doing away with any form of logic. (Or mebbe it's just coincidence. ;-)
Day done. Mebbe tomorrow. Mebbe not...
I find most people not only listen but respond positively once you put your voice on the table. Not all but most. Hierarchies are going to form as soon as there is more than one person involved. Do you want them based on fear, anger, power or competency?
Mebbe You're right about most people, Steven. I hope so.
Between the last two choice, I'd go with competency myself. But, according to some, that would give credence to "the illusion of merit." As You know, meritocracy is "whiteness" to all too many.
But so is being polite, showing up on time and working hard.
TY. And, yeah. That's why CRT and all-a them are doing a disservice to students of *all* colors, when they promote these lunacies. Drive their students to the lowest common denominator.
I can't get over how it's supposedly intelligent people who promote this. Supposedly intelligent and in actuality racist, to boot. And the people in charge who implement this? What's their excuse? I guess same thing.
I'm just guessing, but I imagine that most-a these people have PhDs.
Ironically, the Left is creating even harsher hierarchies through their "intersectionality." When the interests of two or more "oppressed" groups come into conflict, they privilege the group that has more oppression points. Hence the current trend of throwing women--particularly lesbians--under the bus in favor of trans activists.
Too true, Ma'am. I find it curious that black men get thrown under the bus in favor of about everybody but white men. This was illustrated in the comments to the article about Biden perverting Title IX to do away with due process.
How ironic that the people believing this then raise flags to homosexuality over nations that outlaw it, knowing exactly what they are saying and doing.
Activists like Kendi train people to be comfortable with cognitive dissonance and self-contradiction. It's a feature, not a bug.
Kendi is the erudite Al Sharpton. Kendi has made it in life by race-baiting with collegespeak instead of streetspeak, but it's the same race hustle.
Yup. But Kendi make Sharpton look like the simpleton he is, IMO. Kendi is now advising the *government,* he's so high and mighty. Now that's the way to be a *real* race hustler.
<puke>
Yup. That's the only way someone can make any *sense* outta Kendi. And I think it's a feature that Critical Race Theory portrays logical thought as "whiteness." And how "lived experience" is elevated to be so *superior.* It just surprises me how many have fallen prey to that junk.
What is logically implied by Kendi’s radical cultural relativism is that we ultimately must choose the culture we prefer. For him, to do this requires first destroying the existing cultural structure and norms.
IMO, a problem we have in America is that Conservatives often consider their particular religious beliefs as the foundation on which to build their preferred culture. My very religious family members often mention a return to (their version of) God as the only possible salvation. This is a problem in our increasingly secular and ethnically diverse society.
Of course, America’s founders were very aware of this issue and chose the values of the Enlightenment as the bedrock of our culture--- individual value and autonomy, rule of law, equal treatment under the law.
TY for Your reply, M. First_Fit. As far as Conservative culture, I understand what You're "saying." I'm 50% Fundamentalist Atheist, so I can't go along with that aspect of Conservatism completely. But I'm 50% Religio-Spiritual, so I think I can understand it. Me? IOW, I don't consider it, for *myself,* a central aspect of what *I* think of as Conservatism. As to Kendi:
"What is logically implied by Kendi’s radical cultural relativism is that we ultimately must choose the culture we prefer."
Then I don't get what it means "choose the culture we prefer." To me, there are rings of overlapping cultures. I guess, then, one can choose to emphasize certain cultural attributes at one time and then different ones at another time if You wanna. That doesn't sound like what You mean.
"For him, to do this requires first destroying the existing cultural structure and norms."
This is about the stupidest thing I've ever heard before. Yeah, *he* would like to destroy everything and replace it with his own imagined "improved culture." And he's the *kind-a* person who would think that's a good idea. A lotta the problems we *have* in this world can be directly pointed to him and his attitude.
The problems and poisonous attitudes are vast and numerous, but I'll just point to one and rest my case: His idea of a Department of Anti-Racism. https://www.politico.com/interactives/2019/how-to-fix-politics-in-america/inequality/pass-an-anti-racist-constitutional-amendment/
It's nothing more than a fascist way for him and his ilk to decide what is allowed and what is *not* allowed in this country. Only a twisted and perverted mind could even *contemplate* this kind-a thinking, IMO. YMMV.
I think Kendi and his ilk’s main goal with this talk of cultural relativism is to invert the power structure in current society. Marxists always talk about some future more ideal society, but in execution the first step is always to seize the political power and destroy existing hierarchical structures. It’s just ordinary tribalism dressed in academic philosophy.
You got that right, First_Fit! I think people who didn't read his first book even *know* that he's a Marxist. IIRC, he only let it slip in one sentence in his second. (Dunno if he's talked about being a Marxist or not.)
I think it's even more simple, FirstFit---their main goal is to make money, oodles and bundles of glorious, glittering swag.
Yes, *that* they've done in spades. And shows that the moral underpinnings of their movement are pretty much entirely corrupt. Reminds me of BLM.
I can agree with not judging other cultures up to the point they come HERE, in the western world. You can have 7 wifes and eat dogs for lunch, but not in my home. As soon as you are in US/Europe and so on, you have to follow our rules and laws and i can "judge" you as much as I want.
By the way, Kendi's view creates an interesting dilemma on international disaster help, for example - why in the world we need to do anything for cultures "as good as ours" - let them fight and feed themselves.
As in a lot of other things, I am all for individuals helping and applying their OWN money for the causes, but not goverments unless there is a geopolitical need or threaties signed.
This is why I admire Bari and others - they do what they believe is right!
Yessir to all this. It is perfectly valid to critique other cultures, just as they critique ours.
As for Kendi X, I read his work to see what the fuss was about. That's hours and fried brain cells I will never get back.
This is my opinion only, but as an old guy who lived through it,, you never really heard the opinions of 20-30 somethings back when I was a 20-30 something in the '70-80s. We didn't have a voice.
That was a good thing, because, while we may have been very smart, we were not wise (far more important than smart), and had not had many life experiences. So, while we may have embraced many adolescent positions, we weren't influential.
Today, social media has empowered that generation and given a very large voice to unwise thinking. It's allowed someone like AOC to be taken seriously. Our media is largely controlled by unwise people who are more interested in being Op/Ed instead of journalists.
Solution? I have no f'n clue, as I think many of us are too lazy to seek truth, versus what the tabloid media serves us.
Perhaps, a bill that would develop an algorithm that would define journalism (maybe disallowing any subjective terms in an article), versus 'opinion' might work.
They want so badly to tear down the system and take it over…. But they have nothing to replace it with!!
Thanks so much for sharing your insight, it’s a powerful reflection to be able to admit that the younger have always been “more extreme” but haven’t had the leverage before. I myself am nearly 30 but find myself baffled by most people my age.
“But they have nothing to replace it with!!”
Oh but they do. They won’t say it out loud very often but they want us to live as the citizens of the old USSR lived.
Sure sure. The takeover in Seattle summer of 2020 on cap hill comes to mind… it quickly dissolved into chaos after they took everything over. They wanted to be autonomous but had no structures in place to actually do that. They just wanted to say they did it.
I like your post, Jon.
Your mention of social media is what I think as well. Ms. Weiss, in an otherwise strong piece, didn't really touch on the prevalence of internet platforms as this generation's defining medium. It has vastly accelerated waves of conformist and unyielding thinking so much so that it has put sanity on the back foot.
And you're right. Journalism has been one of the first victims. And following right behind it, dropping like dominoes, are universities and corporations.
Yeah, that was great, Jon! All the Way around...
You know my solution already: Give up the social media. All=a it. Not just the time, but that it'll just change Your entire perspective on things, AFAIK.
You are taking your place next to Milton, Lincoln, and Churchill, to name a few. You are giving many of us the greatest gift, Bari Weiss: sanity.
For me this is simple. I want to be able to think. I want to be able to debate ideas. I want to read for myself. I want to be a bridge from those in the past who spoke forbidden thoughts and wrote our Constitution to future generations flourishing under that Constitution. In the brief history of our country the forces of chaos have never stopped trying to shred the forbidden thoughts of our Founders. A civil war was fought because of the one bit of chaos injected into the Constitution. It was, thankfully, doomed to fall, yet the chaos lived on in pockets disrupting and killing, infuriated since the passage of the Civil Rights Act and it has regrouped with a vengeance, taking a new form on the left. The eyes of chaos are blood red with rage at the thought of humanity flourishing, no man subject to another man's whims, no man afraid to think for himself, the parent/child bond sacrosanct, self-determination a birthright of humanity. This is a hill to die on.
Great read so far. About 60% of the way through but one thing really needs to happen and that is the LGB need to stop pulling the TQIA+ Up the hill. The two groups have absolutely nothing in common.
The defining aspect of Q is outright perversion: public maturation. Pedophilia. The right to wear your gimp suit to work. The Q is outright deranged and they need the hard fought respect the LGB fought decades to achieve to ever hope to gain "acceptance". The issue is, even murders know a 41 year old man diddling a 12 year old girl is simply wrong.
The T & A (and the N) are simply offshoots of the Q which are kinda palatable and allow the Q to hide.
Of course the I is the yoke which forces the LGB to carry the load.
So this isa call to people like Bari. You have to STOP saying you support Queer ideology ands its siblings of Trans/Asexual/Non-Binary because the Inter-sectionalists have guilted you into it. You notice the media did not dub the Florida's Parental Rights bill the "Don't Queer my kid law?" or "Don't say Queer"... They called it the don't say Gay Bill. They again hid their true agenda behind the LGB.
I can't keep up with this language. How can someone cis-gendered be part of the LBGTetc. community?
"Cis" and "trans" gendered are terms of a cult ideology around "gender". It hides the fact that there are a tiny number of men who have either a mental disorder or a fetish which makes them wish to appear as women. The latest demand is that we agree they are women. Gender Ideology says that it has nothing at all to do with what kind of person you are attracted to (!). For instance our United States Assistant Health Secretary, named "First Female Four Star Admiral" Richard (goes by "Rachael") Levine is married to a woman. He has been insisting we "affirm" children in the "authentic" identities as the opposite sex and get them drugs and mutilating surgeries for their health. This must stop.
Some transexuals wish they were attractive to straight men (they are gay) but then there are the straight ones (who do not get "fixed") and wish to invade women's spaces because women and the thought of" being a woman" are both sexually exciting. They are the ones getting women pregnant in prisons.They are the ones who borrow their wives' lingerie (it used to be in secret but now we celebrate this sort of thing). I expect "Rachel" Levine is in that category. Probably Bruce Jenner and John "Jennifer" Pritzker (a big financial promoter of GI) are.
Jenner is on our side. Leave it out; eating your own is a left-challenged thing.
Jenner may recognize that people like him have an advantage over women in sports and good for him on that one. (Isn't this obvious? The bar is low if we cannot get over applauding that one.) However, though unfairness in sports gets the attention of the mainstream audience it is not the most important issue. I don't care if a guy wants to wear a dress to work and gets himself Extreme Cosmetic Surgery (although I have compassion and think there ought to be mental health gate keeping) but it does not make him a woman in any sense. Pretending that it does and endorsing an ideology around "gender" is hurting our adolescent and young adult women. Many "conservatives" are guilty of pandering to a mental disorder (and in some cases a fetish). This includes men with "diaper fetish". I recommend reading Dr. Deborah Soh.
Bruce Jenner considers himself a lesbian woman now. I think he is mentally ill and so would not want to see him serve in office. The fact that he identifies as a Republican could be what has sources like FOX News doing promotional pieces on transing little girls. It also has the hosts using "she" to describe men. I am not sure that an "our trannies v. their trannies" attitude will help stop the Ideology around "Gender" but that is my opinion :)
What is the good of conservatives who cannot conserve our nation's women and girls?
"Gender" dysphoria > Trans-"gender" are both real things; though neither anywhere need prevelant as made out. A significant number of both communities; possibly a majority; reject their being used by so-called "allies" to push specious political agendas. That is where Caitlyn stands as far as I'm aware. This isn't some zero-sum game and not an either/or issue.
Sure, an infinitesimal number of people have "gender dysphoria" which is a mental disorder. Should it always be treated with hormones and surgeries or sometimes be treated with talk therapy - at least as a start? Should we let the patient drive the treatment? I believe these people deserve compassion and the best treatment possible whatever that is in individual cases. Fetish also exists and we can be sympathetic to these people as well. Which does Jenner have? Maybe fetish since he considers himself a 'lesbian" and therefore has likely not had himself "fixed" below the belt. His girlfriends might have an issue otherwise...
I can still reject the term "transgender" which appears to take in alot and have an entire ideology that goes with it and sucks in a great number of teenage and young adult women. There are a great many desisters now with regret. There are a great many unethical doctors practicing now.
And our US Assistant Heath Secretary is promoting harm to children.
That is great if Bruce Jenner does not want to be used as an "ally" (a dirty word to me now) and if he recognizes that he would have an unfair advantage against women in sports. Good for him. I do not believe it is a zero-sum game. I also don't think I must agree that he is a "she" or that it would be good for him to serve in office. He's nuts. Lots of people are nuts but functional enough. Remember how he cried on TV when he wanted to be governor? How would a woman have been treated?
We need to stop promoting the ideology of gender in society and in schools. Many innocent young people (especially actual female people) are hurt by the cult contagion and will continue to be hurt than there are men with mental disorder and fetish added together.
Also, why reorganize all of society around the disordered thinking of a tiny number of men?
Did you miss the reference to her wife? :-) You are falling for their trick of confusing "gender" (The concept goes back to John Money, a completely foul person. look him up) with sex.
John Money was atrocious.
I reject the "cis" and "trans" terminology which is part of a nonsense (but harmful) ideology. Someone who is gay married is just gay. Someone like Richard Levine who LARPS as "Rachael" and is married to a woman is not gay married for instance.
Well, you'll have to take that up with the Supremes. They'd rule against you, mind. :-)
I have no problem with the men LARPING really. My problem is if I am forced to agree with them that they *are* women. And, even humoring them does not mean gender ideology = science. It does not. Sure they can wear whatever they like to work and they get to have jobs. That does not mean Richard Levine should be US Assistant Health Secretary promoting the mutilation of children.
Scalia would have voted against the way I think for sure... but I don't know about "the court" now. The case I would like to see go to the SC is the CA "Sanctuary State" for trans identified minors (bill making it's way to law). It would mean people who are not the parents of the child could take them and get them drugs and surgeries against the parent's wishes. There are child trafficing implications. I would love to see that go to the SC and have our society really air these issues.
Madness is never knowing when to stop - hence the insane overreach may be the undoing of GI.
I wondered that too. I think maybe it’s what we used to call “bi.” It might be more clear if the “B” were deleted. Lettered nonsense will never reveal the nuance it seems to strive for.
Hi, In the UK there is an LGB Alliance which is for Lesbian, Gay and Bi-Sexual people. They have deleted the other letters which are nonsense. (OK, there are a few I = "intersex" people who have a birth defect but they are still either men or women and I don't think they want to be included.) Apparently, there are people who feel they can go with same sex or opposite sex attraction. I have no idea what is going on there but it's different from the "Cis/trans" Gender Ideology Cult which is about crazy "Identity" and gives cover to adult men - some of whom are mentally disordered and some of whom have a fetish.
But, yes, I'm against the crazy lettered LGBTQIA+++WTF alphabet that just keeps growing. "Gay" would cover it.
I think the movement wanted to take the word "sex" out of "transexual" not that anyone can ever switch their sex. I think there are just layers upon layers of terms which obfuscate matters: Mental Illness & fetish exist, young people are being harmed by an Ideology built around it.
That is the point of "I".
This is not a subject I know much about. It would be interesting to learn more about the differences and similarities of the thinking behind these letters. Nobody (other than Steven nearby) seems to cover this.
I just tried, above. The straight Ts are sometimes described as having autogynophelia.
Thanks for those interesting comments. My head is still spinning.
You are very welcome. I never wanted to dive into this stuff but if you have kids in school you have to as they are taught GI like it's science.
T is not palatable. And I have no idea what N is.
Non-binary. They're not gay, but they'd like to be.
Well that makes no $)&*$* sense, literally.
But thanks for the definition of Q. I’d thought that but wasn’t sure.
I've given up on trying to make sense of everyone after B.
I know cis is a made-up slur based on a mis-use of a chemistry term, but in trans-world I thought it meant straight. However, in this speech Bari defines herself as cis and gay. Am I misunderstanding the wokey jargon? Not that wokespeak is understandable to begin with lol!
A couple of thousand years before chemistry: see the Roman Republic's Cisalpine and Transalpine Gaul. "Our side of the mountains" vis "The Otherside of the mountains."
I know the parentheticals are whacky but they are the logical conclusion from the ideologies. Read some Gail Rubin if you want to understand how twisted these people are.
N = Non-Binary (you don't know if you have a penis or a vagina).
A = Asexual (you have neither a penis or a vagina)
T = Transexual (They hide behind people with gender-dysphoria but they think gender is unlinked from biology).
Q = Queer (This is an identity without a locus. These are the fringes and includes things like pedophilia, public masturbation, flashers, peeping toms, furries, beastiality, gimps among others) Remember this when your company insists you need to listen to "Queer voices" and simply ask why the company is supporting people that want to sexually molest children.
Oh...
I = Kimberle Crenshaw's Intersectionality and wraps up all "marginalized groups" into a giant guilt trap. This is the guilt trip that gets people like Bari to say she supports peeping toms, masturbation and child rape when she says she is part of the LGBTQIA+ community.
Sorry, but I beg to differ. Crenshaw and the Critical Theorists played a role in this garbage, because it all comes outta CRT theory. But, no. I is "Intersex." It has to do with people who have neither the "XX" or "XY" type of genetics. From what I know, they either *are* or *include* babies that have *both* a penis and a vagina. Long story.
They lead a very difficult life, and from my understanding, want nothing to do with these TQIANWTF+ idjits.
Alice Dreger has some very interesting things to say on this point in her book “Galileo’s Middle Finger.”
Haha. TYTY. That's on my list of books to read but, then, I got a *ton* of them. Dunno what originally attracted my interest in it. But look forward to mebbe getting to it.
I thought that in the alphabet soup, I stood for “intersex”? Which is a real, but rare, biological thing: any one of a number of disorders of sexual development, resulting in some cases of actual ambiguity about a given individual’s biological sex, including hermaphroditism (having both male and female sex organs). Intersex people are the only ones for whom the phrases “assigned male at birth” or “assigned female at birth” male any actual sense.
And “asexual” is not about what parts you have, just about not wanting to use them. Or so my GenZ kid has educated me.
I have generally heard the "I" be for Intersection but it is overloaded like the "Q" being for "Questioning".
As for the "A". Not wanting to use them is functionally not having them. Take the argument to the logical conclusion and "A" see themselves as a Ken or Barbie Doll with nothing but lumps so they have no sexuality.
They ignore the reality of what sexuality is and pretend they do not have a sexuality.
This is simply a lie.
If you go to the original source material for these things, it is far more perverted and insidious than your GenZ kid is letting on.
Yeah I have read about “nullification” surgeries to get that Ken Doll look. Delightful. But I think at least some people call that “agender” rather than “asexual.” There’s a lot of conflation of sexual orientation (a real thing) and gender identity (a made-up thing) going on. On both sides.
Agree that the Q is overloaded.
Intersectionality is a whole ‘nother can of worms, like that NARAL post about how you can’t be a feminist if you’re not also standing up for every other oppressed group.
It’s all a mess.
Bari this is MASSIVELY important. Thank you and your colleagues for being a part of this. Hopefully it spreads. Online courses, and satellite schools.
The demand exists for a new kind of education. One unplugged from the machine. Most importantly one that still seeks truth and intellectual bravery, and doesn’t cave to cultural peer pressure with weak intellectual cowardice. Nullius in verba and all that.
Of course the best way to take over an old system is to create a new and better one. Do you think there is room in the tech circicuulm there for a new kind of participation in government? One that forces transparency back on the systems that govern over us and holds those who corrupt it actually accountable?
One like this?
https://joshketry.substack.com/p/the-case-for-building-a-new-open
Thank You for Your post, M. Ketry. It was very interesting. Will hafta think on it more. I wonder what Your background is. In my experience, it's not so easy to solve what is, essentially, "a people problem" by using elaborate technology. ICBW, of course.
But I believe this here quote is a mistaken goal.
"Our current system has failed at this, and the solution isn’t finding better people to run it. It’s creating a better system so the person who is elected matters less."
If Your system doesn't promote the election of better people, I'm having trouble seeing it. That's just me. TYTY again for posting the link.
Jay
Thanks so much for reading and the feedback Jay. I used to think like that too - I thought that leadership was the key to a good system. But I think much differently now.
As Naval Ravikant says - “the key to a good system is that you should be able to turn it over to your enemies and let them run it and try to corrupt it, and if they can’t (without getting caught and punished fairly) then it is a good system.”
Good systems designers will hire a “red team” to purposely try and hack the system. And then make it better based on results. They repeat this often, and the system constantly improves to defend against corruptions
I prefer a decentralized system, because they have proven to be the fastest to adapt and the least corruptible.
Right now our system does not hold the political elite accountable. Therefore the system is corrupted. It is the single most important problem we face: corruption of our systems that govern our lives. Corrupted by regulatory capture and special interest influence.
Think of it like this: our system is like a computer. Most of our problems are just programs that run on the computer. We are sitting around fighting about what programs run better on a hacked computer system with a virus. But the truth is NONE of those programs are gonna run well. We need to fix the system first.
JT maybe this article will clarify what I mean. Again thanks for engaging. If we are are really going to change things we need a movement. #TransparencyMovement
https://joshketry.substack.com/p/what-we-need-is-a-transparency-movement
Not one general or civilian has been punished for the afghan defeat. 20 years of bs, 1000,s of lives , an ending so catastrophic that the very belief in us power was shaken. Unaccountable elites indeed.
Rob this is a perfect example of how corrupt the system is.
Just thought I'd mention here : OpenTheBooks a project of American Transparency – a 501(c)3 nonprofit, nonpartisan charitable organization.
Am getting ready to knockoff in a bit, and was killing some time. This from the OpenTheBooks people on Fauci and the NIH slackers:
https://openthebooks.substack.com/p/faucis-royalties-and-the-350-million
THey're doing a great service.
This is neither here nor there, but the gubmint should provide this info, right? Then all this group would have to do is compare their numbers with those provided.
I liked they posted their rating. 94 outta 100 isn't too bad! I gave a little bit. May look into more later.
TYTY.
Fair point. We have erected systems that permit top down control And now our federal Dept of Ed is run by a committed woke leftist from CT.
I don't think bottom-up, generally, is inherently better than top-down. They both have weaknesses.
The guy currently at the top of the DOE? Yeah, he's a *big* weakness. Too bad...
JT..consider the RC originally I guess principle of subsidiarity. https://www.dictionary.com/browse/subsidiarity
Seems like it’s related to federalism. I have seen Interior Western US issues nationalized via a form of new-internal-colonialism.Not good governance IMHO.
Also check out how many eastern U’s have federal grants to study the West vs. western universities studying the East. Clearly there is a geographical privilege deficit.
RC originally, yes. The "theocracy" Bari was blathering about ironically. :-)
TY for reply, M. Sharon. I really *like* that principle of subsidiarity. I hadn't heard-a it. Granted, it's not the way things work currently.
I dunno much about the Fed grants, so I'm not sure which way the geographical privilege is smaller.
jt - "bottoms up!" is venerable.
Try it. Oh wait, it's a bit early yet.
Too early for me no matter what time. (That's just me. Meds, for one thing.
;-)
Too fast. Forgot the LOL! Yer funny, Sir Bruce. :-)
Here is a better look at decentralized systems. If you really want to compare the two systems check out the book The Starfish and The Spider: The Unstoppable Power of Leaderless Organizations
What I am purposing here is actually a hybrid of the two systems. There is a leader but that leader is transparent - a glass head.
https://joshketry.substack.com/p/decentralize-everything
How are you going to get that better system unless you rid the current one of the folk borking it? You need to get better people running it or the borkers have a good chance of borking you and your intentions. They will at least make things more difficult and drawn out than they ought to be. You need better people in charge just so as not to have those huge and intentionally fatal obstacles in your road at the least. You need them to carefully dismantle that system together with you to lessen the problems of bulding a new one (The old one worked until deliberately sabotaged with malice aforethought IMO; most of it must be in the new build!) and to hurry it along.
We don’t need to dismantle the system. We need to create a new layer of technology that is open sourced and transparent and constantly evolving to prevent corruption and use it like a shock collar to monitor our politicians. If they refuse to use it they become immediately unelectable.
Steven did you read the well thought out article? I explained that all. Here is another link
https://joshketry.substack.com/p/do-we-need-to-re-infiltrate-our-own
I'll get to it. My points stand regardless.
You do have a point, but there is a very well proven solution to the problem you point out
I'll think about reading the article. TY for the link. Before I read the article, I would like to point out to You a probable corruption in Your thinking.
You missed what I "said" about this being "a people problem." You identified the problem(s) correctly. Among them, the elite aren't held to account. Regulatory capture, special interest influence. I would like to "hear" *more* about what all some-a the other problems there are. This just scratches the surface, right?
Because all these can be changed by a simple change in procedures. No technology need to fix these.
Like I implied, You being a techie, wanna use tech to "fix" things. *Invariably* You'll make things *worse.* Sorry. Because You either misspoke or don't understand the problem. Our government is in *no way, shape, or form* ANYTHING like a computer system, right?
Perhaps You can explain better. Because I think You conflate the two. People and computers. Thinking in terms of our government working like computer programs is a false start. Mebbe I misunderstood.
I recall the quote from Naval Ravikant. And am familiar with red teams. I'm hesitant that Your red team will keep up with a determined foe, especially if Your security is Open Source. But that's neither here nor there.
The way Your system is most *likely* to get corrupted is in the *design,* right? You hope for good ideas to rise to the top, right? Again, I mebbe am putting words into Your mouth. I read the article You previously linked to, but didn't *study* it.
I could go on, because this subject interests me a lot. (But mebbe I went on too long as it is. :-)
TYTY again for Your reply here, M. Ketry.
JT it isn’t me who is misunderstanding here. A system is a system. You can corrupt a computer, a government, a school, a car engine, any system is corruptible. I am zoomed way out in my discussion and you are looking at this from a more acute angle.
Read it if you like to, or not. But we have a simple solution. And fear of technology like you seem to have is going to leave those infiltrating our systems with tools that we are purposely choosing not to use. We need to shine a light on the corruption and technology is the way. If you have a better way, do tell.
I'm sure You know this is a vast oversimplification: "A system is a system." I mean, it's true if You agree with the definition that "a system is a group of interrelated parts that have a common goal or function. Everything is a system, or a subsystem of another system."
At *that* level "a (sub)system is a (sub)system." IMV, virtually everything is a subsystem.
You may have missed my comment on the other article, which I read yesterday..
I agree wholeheartedly with Your views on transparency. As You could note above in the conversation of the OpenTheBooks group. Movements? There's almost as many movements, these days, as there are people. I have a deep and abiding distrust of movements, from years of seeing them crash and burn with unintended consequences.
It's not that I fear technology, M. Ketry. I think You sell short the most advanced form of "technology" there is on this planet. The Human Being system. Include that system in any solution and You move away from the verbiage "simple solution" pretty quickly, right?
We are talking past each other.
The more you understand the problem the more simple the solution often is. Take the complex human system of grappling (BJJ). Infinite leverage points and techniques. But those who understand it best will usually have simple solutions to your problems.
When you zoom way out on any system there is two problems that are most frequent. Either the system is inadequate, or the system is corrupted. I don’t think the system is inadequate. If it was running as intended it would still be the best system on Earth. So that leaves us with corruption.
In your example the human system can also be corrupted - and it is actively happening - with the toxic foods we eat, chemicals in our environment, programming from media, and more.
The answer doesn’t change. Transparency so we can see the truth about these corruptions and decentralization so more than just a few food companies or few media outlets control the messaging.
This isn’t about a technique. It’s about an overlying principle of how to safely dismantle powerful monolithic systems.
A perfect example of this you and I are experiencing right now. The centralized corporate media has lost 80% of its control to the decentralized independent journalists of Substack and YouTube and beyond. Humans can create movements even if they’re not given fancy names. The movement towards decentralized media is based in trust. We no longer trust the big corporations to tell us what’s going on. Just like we no longer trust the government is responding as a representative democratic system should.
Radical Transparency create trust. But how do you create radical transparency? if the answer isn’t systemic then it too will be corrupted easily.
I just wanted to alert those readers, and you about an incident I recently experienced. I am an older woman in my early 60s. I stopped reading NYTimes, WAPO, CNN I just skim. I don’t believe them anymore and their agenda seems to be to stir up trouble and to be screaming constantly at me. Last week I got 3 messages from google via gmail asking if the emails from Substack were Spam and did I want to block them for “disinformation.” In each case I just shut the window down. A 60+ woman who knits, reads alternative views, wants to understand not only herself but the world around her, and is no threat to the PTB. I still subscribe to many Substack authors and intend to do so for a long time. I don’t always understand things, like Matt Tabbai’s articles on currency, the Fed, banking, or Russia but I persevere. We are being watched, monitored, and it really is at an unimagined level.
One way we can fight back is to stop supporting groups like Google. I used to own stock in the company (one of my biggest holdings) and I sold it all because I don't want to support their intrusion into our lives, and their leftist politics. It frankly is one of the best stock bets in the market, but I simply can't abide their practices. Same reason I stopped supporting my college, stopped subscribing to my local paper (the increasingly illiberal Boston Globe), etc. We have it in our power to financially disavow these institutions that are party to destroying free speech in this country.
You can always go to reader.substack.com and find all your substacks.
I was just to lazy to list all the people I read. I just wanted to let others on gmail that they are being monitored by tptb.
Ironic that is all we ever hear from Google for the most part - spam and ads. Rolls eyes. :-)
Adding to your warning; always check your spam folder. Amongst the scams and sex ads there is always a large proportion of post that has been... "misdirected", shall we say?
i refuse anything google on my network , there is no FREE lunch , you pay one way or another
stop using G mail you get what you pay for , tutanota startmail and a few others provide good service and you decide what is spam not floogle don't complain about being monitored , do something about it
This qualifies as a New Declaration of Independence, calling out the mobocracy for their “long train of abuses”. You are reminding us of our “right”, our “duty to throw off such Government”.
Indeed, “The history of the present [woke culture] is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.”
We all need to send this to every outlet of the mobocracy, stuffing their email boxes to overflowing, gumming up the works of the Unenlightenment, planting our flag for all to see, saying:
“Here I stand, I can do no other,”
BigT, I pretty much agree with you - with one clarification:
I think that the US Government as designed in the US Constitution actually preserves what we (and I think you ?) want, when it’s fundamentals are followed as originally intended. That’s currently being perverted and the childish “woke” thinking is being let into our system.
So I see a new Declaration of Independence as being needed for independence from the current fad that is misusing an incredibly stalwart and wise structure that we actually already have - IF we’ll just use THAT. So when I object to the “government “ we’re enduring, I refer to a government with a lower case “g”, and reserve “Government” for reference to the brilliant structure we were given in 1787. I hate to see the two being confused in discussions of the changes I see as needed.
I tremble at the thought of our Constitution being fiddled with by the modern day clown car drivers. I’ve respectfully told my House of Representatives member (at a fund raiser), “please don’t take this as an insult, but your peers have neither the IQ or the integrity to fiddle with that.”
Jeff but you admit, the system is corrupted right? That is our root problem. No other problem matters more than the fact that the systems that govern our lives have been corrupted. We need to get control of the systems back first. Here is how:, we need a Transparency Movement
https://joshketry.substack.com/p/what-we-need-is-a-transparency-movement
But be careful of leaning too much into the idea of "The System". It is people who have allowed themselves to be corrupted or who have chosen corruption; "The System" is just a thing in your head. It is how the systemic racism and oppression lie got a hand-hold in the first place. Reifying ideas also got us the "War on Terror" and the "War on Drugs". Be careful or you'll be off to the races yourself.
Thanks, Rational.
I read your link, and SteveW’s note below.
imho this steps into the area of whether to indict “the system” as being corrupted and needing revision. I think that there’s certainly corruption ( always has been to varying degrees). But I think less that the System is corrupted and in need of a pretty complex revision as your linked article describes than there is a pretty bad illness that needs to be corrected.
I think that there are several major components to this:
1) the primary mission of Journalism has been largely abandoned by people who feel they have a mission to achieve as opposed to honest, factual reporting. This, I think is likely a self correcting condition as evidenced by this web site, nearly all of Substack that I’m familiar with, and the exodus (or near exodus) of Journalists who won’t compromise their integrity.
2) The consolidation of information into a few centers who control what the populace sees. This smacks of the monopolies (oil, phone, etc) that had to be broken up to allow free trade. I guess the current information monopolies have some technicalities that keep them legal. It seems that we need a similar set of controls as was done for free trade of material goods and is now needed for information. I’m not inclined to see the need for deep re-write of the system as your article suggests. IF the Press did an honest job of shining a light on the rot, the public would know what’s wrong. The “System” is already designed to deliver the fixes: At the voting booth !
And finally, 3) the People better get damned worried and interested in getting good leaders into office or they’re going to find that is all they’re leaving their children and grandchildren a hellish mess that they might not have a way out of. They need that honest press, and ability to find and share information.
Precisely. Thanks for clarifying.
I've never done this before but I was so stirred by this speech that I just posted this to my LinkedIn account...
"I am a registered political Independent and a political "Centrist." I don't normally join in the fray that seems to be tearing our country apart. But today I read an OUTSTANDING speech by Bari Weiss, founder of the Common Sense Substack community of which I am proudly a part, which perfectly captures my sentiments, values and civic convictions that I now publicly affirm. I have no use for Republicans or Democrats, their parties, or for the Mainstream Media (be it FOX News, CNN, etc.). "Here I stand. I can do no other..."
https://www.commonsense.news/p/the-new-founders-america-needs?amp%3Butm_campaign=cta&utm_source=substack "